Barren promise : the hope and heartache in treating infertility

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is a reproductive medicine technology that allows the genetic characteristics of embryos to be examined. Created through in vitro fertilization, embryos are grown in a Petri dish for three days, at which point they have eight cells. One cell is then removed from each embryo and tested for certain genetic characteristics. Based on the results, selected embryos are transferred into a woman's uterus. Originally developed as a way to screen embryos for genetic disorders, PGD was used among a limited number of patients. More recently, however, some physicians and researchers have deemed PGD a useful infertility treatment. As a result, the number of people using PGD has increased every year since the technology was first developed in 1989. The role of PCGD as an emerging infertility treatment was examined from research, clinical, and personal perspectives. This was done through literature searches, interviews, laboratory observations, and attendance at infertility support meetings.

Department dc:contributor.department

MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• McDonough, Maureen (Maureen Ann)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Marcia Bartusiak.

• Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39440

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39440