Hi
@mesara and
@happynods and those who are interested in PGD procedure in Bangkok,
Sorry for the very delayed post as i hadnt have the time to sit down and gather all the info/cost on PGD.
Some background info on myself, I started with NUH for my first IVF as i want to utilise the govt grants. My main issue is PCOS (my AMH is slightly above 100) and no ovulation. Husband has no major issues. Failed my first fresh ET (day 3 embryo) and decided to change to private doc as I did not have good chemistry with Prof PC Wong.
Under my private gynae, I did two medicated FETs using my frozen embryos from NUH (I had transferred them to TFC), but failed again, despite all the day 3 embryos looking very good and my linings were in optimal condition. As such, I decided to look at PGD options overseas as I do not wish to wish any more time (and heartaches) in transferring “bad” embryos and I also met the cap on medisaves. My gynae actually tied up with a clinic in Bangkok that specialize in PGD. So the process for my IVF in SG/BKK is as follows:-
- When menses come, take blood test to check hormones level and then SG gyane prescribe stimulation jabs in Singapore. The Sg clinic will email all the blood test results and stim dosage to Bkk gynae for info, and I am always copied in the emails. Basically, the sg doc is in charge of my stimulation.
- When the eggs sizes looked like it will be ready in a few days for trigger jab, SG gynae will inform bkk doc. BKK doc will confirm the timing of trigger jab and timing of OR. I will then book airtixs to fly to BBK. I only stayed 3 nights in BKK. I took my trigger jab the night before, then fly to BKK and arrive next day afternoon, go straight to BKK clinic to see the gynae who will perform another scan and blood test on me. The following day morning will then be the OR by the BKK gynae. I stayed for another 2 nights before returning to SG (there is no need to see the BKK gynae again unless you have serious issues). I had OHSS due to 50 follicles retrieved and so the last 2 nights was just spent resting in hotel and loading up on H20/egg whites. If no risk of OHSS, I think its possible to only stay 1 night or even fly back the same day after OR. The Bangkok clinic is open for procedures Monday – Sunday so I timed my time in BKK to be over the weekend to minimize absence from work.
- I opted for the PGD-NGS which is more advanced than PGD-CGH but NGS takes a longer time which means that one is unable to do a ET in the same cycle. I was not planning to go with a fresh ET since I am at high risk of OHSS anyway. Note that the Bkk clinic is actually screening all chromosomes to make sure there are exactly 23 pairs, and not merely looking out for a particular disorder (as what I understand in the case of SG)
- PGD results – For PGD, the clinic will only take blastocysts as then there will be enough cells for them to extract for biopsy without hurting the embryos. I had 20 blastocysts by day 5/6 to test and out of these, 15 are confirmed normal, 1 is unknown (not enough cells to ascertain) and 4 are abnormal. So my normal rate is 75%. Both my husband and I did not have any genetic testing done but believe that we do not have any genetic issues.
- After resting for 2 cycles, I was ready for FET and I started to take pills prescribed by my SG gynae to build up my lining. My SG gynae was in charge of my womb preparation and he would email to update the BKK clinic/gynae.
- When the womb lining looked like it would be ready soon, SG gynae would inform BKK gynae again and I will buy air tixs to BKK. Similar to OR, I will see BKK doc on the day of arrival, and go for FET the next day. I had to thaw 4 blastocysts though in order to get two good ones (more than 90% cells intact) transferred back. The FET procedure is very simple and I even went shopping and squeeze in the crowded BTS on the same night, and ate ice cream. I stayed for 2 more nights before I fly back Sg but I certainly think I'm able to fly back same day, meaning effectively I only need 2 days 1 night in Bangkok, which can be done over Sat/Sun. I took a hcg blood test when I was back in SG and confirmed to have my much awaited BFP!
Item/Procedure/Test/ Pricing Estimate (THB)
Doctors Consult/visit (if required) 1-2,000
Ultrasound (if required) 1-2,000
Routine Blood tests (if required) 1,000-4,000
Trigger injection 2,000
Ovum Pick-up (OPU).35,000
Fertilization and Culture (ICSI and embryo culture) 75,000
Approximate cost of medicines after Ovum Pick-up (if required).3-5,000
PGD-CGH (up to 4 embryos) 75,000
PGD-CGH extra embryos 12,000/ embryo
PGD-NHS (up to 4 embryos) 80,000
PGD-NHS extra embryos 12,000/ embryo
Embryo Transfer (ET) (if required) 25,000
Embryo Transfer with GA (ET) (if required) 35,000
Approximate cost of medicines after Embryo Transfer (if required) 7,000
Embryo freezing (if required) (up to 10 embryos) 20,000
Embryo cryostorage (if required) 1,500/embryo/year
- Actually the consultations and scans are all cheaper in Bangkok. Half the price of Singapore private clinic. Meds are also cheaper. So if u can fly to Bangkok to have the full ivf plus PGS, I think it will be cheaper than doing it in Singapore.
I think I spend close to 17k for my ivf + PGS for 20 blastocysts for both Singapore and Bangkok. The Bangkok clinic do PGS for every ivf as a lot of foreigners go there for gender selection. Actually Bangkok is in fact very advanced medically. It's just that we always see Bangkok as a developing country but there are a lot of super rich Thais in Bangkok too and so there are definitely top notch hospitals to cater to these rich Thais and Thai royalties.
The Bangkok clinic I goes to in located in a newly renovated building and it's clean and nice. when it first started, it was tied up with a famous Australian ivf center, so a lot of Australians go there for gender selection. The environment is quite nice, the nurses all spoke good English and the doc/ nurse attending to me are very competent. So I had a good experience there so far. When I was there, I saw hongkongers, Chinese, and Thais there seeking treatment. It is not backward or dirty like those back alleys. It is a decent specialized hospital for ivf and PGS only so they handle many cases every day. I believe their PGS expertise is higher than that of Singapore's. The Bangkok clinic I go to only do PGD on day 5 embryos so that are more cells to extract and wouldn't hurt the embryos as much compared to day 3 embryos. So I did all my PGD test on all day 5 embryos. I think the handling of extraction of cells is also v important and personally feel that Singapore pdg may not be as "expert" as the ones in Bangkok... Cos Singapore don't handle PGD usually and they have very limited experience, unlike Bangkok where they do PGD every single day.
Feel free to pm me if you need more information. Hope this helps!
