Visit to RMA New Jersey

Improving the efficiency of fertility care, maximizing the potential of each egg to produce a healthy pregnancy, is part of the new fertility treatment paradigm we are instituting at Pacific Fertility Center.

Comprehensive Chromosome Screening (CCS) is one method we use to improve efficiency of fertility care. CCS selects embryos that have normal chromosomes out of a group of embryos produced in an IVF cycle. The majority of embryos in most women do not have normal chromosomes, and stop growing a few days after fertilization. The embryos that pass CCS screening have a very high chance of pregnancy.

CCS allows transfer of a single embryo, rather than the multiple embryos of IVF treatment in the past. Transfer of a single healthy embryo maintains high pregnancy rates with low risk of problems in pregnancy.

Some women produce extra healthy embryos that are vitrified (frozen) and stored for future use, so CCS also enables fertility preservation. These healthy embryos are very effective for building families in the future.

Reducing the risk of multiple gestation and miscarriage while maintaining very high pregnancy rates is changing the way fertility problems are treated.

We’ve talked in these pages before about Dr. Richard Scott. Dr. Scott is the clinical and Scientific Director of RMA-NJ, and an innovator and lead investigator on several of the early influential papers published on CCS and elective Single Embryo Transfer.

Dr. Scott visited Pacific Fertility Center in May last year for a round table discussion, and we found many of our views on this new subject completely aligned with his opinions. It was an honor to visit his program in exchange.

CCS requires high-level care with a very experienced team to get it right and provide reliable outcomes. We reviewed all of the steps in the process, from preparing patients for fertility care, to optimizing stimulation, quality assurance in the lab and clinic, genetic testing strategies and vitrification technologies. To develop good embryos requires a strong foundation in the patient, clinic, and lab, and all of the building blocks must be secure.

Pacific Fertility Center and RMA-NJ are seeing substantial growth in this technology. 70% of RMA’s patients now perform CCS, and pregnancy rates have remained outstanding. And with high pregnancy rates they have observed, as we have, a dramatic reduction in multiple gestation, miscarriage, and clinical aneuploidy like Downs’ Syndrome.

Pacific Fertility Center remains one of the national leaders in this technology, leading the way in development and application. We’re pleased to find support in people like Dr. Richard Scott and the program at RMA-NJ. We always remember, as our patients place their trust in our hands, that we help build families, one healthy child at a time.

— Philip Chenette, M.D.
PFC Physician

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