PGD activity in France: the French specificities.

Context: In France, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been regulated by the 2004 bioethics law. According to this law, a PGD is done only for couples with a high risk of transmitting a serious and incurable inherited disease. Each PGD indication has to be authorized by the local multidisciplinary centre for prenatal diagnosis to which the PGD centre is attached. The Posters, Topic: ART, lab, biopsy Agence de la biomedicine (ABM) authorized three PGD centres: Paris/Clamart, Strasbourg and Montpellier. The aim of the ABM and the health ministry is to increase the activity according to the population needs in respect of safety and quality, ethics and transparency. The main objective of this study was to describe the French PDG activity, these specificities and the evolution in the last three years. Method: Annual reports of the three PGD centres activities are collected by the ABM. The exhaustive national data from 2006 to 2008 are analysed in a descriptive fashion and presented here. Results: PGD activity has been growing since 2006. The three PGD centres examined 342 requests in 2006, 361 in 2007 and 416 in 2008. This growth is mainly due to the increase of requests for autosomic dominant pathology. Among these examined requests, 310 were accepted, 69 in Paris/Clamart, 119 in Strasbourg and 122 in Montpellier. Most of the rejected cases (47%) were related to difficulties or impossibility to practice assisted reproduction treatment. In 2008, a very large panel of genetic disease (103 different diseases) was examined in 2008. All activity indicators have increased since 2006 and most notably in 2008: 278 couples had an in vitro fertilization treatment in 2008 (89 in Paris/Clamart, 92 in Strasbourg, 97 in Montpellier). Furthermore, 391 treatment cycles (138 in Paris/Clamart, 117 in Strasbourg, 136 in Montpellier) and 320 ovocytes aspirations were done. Indeed, 73 ultrasound diagnosis of early pregnancy (27 in Paris/Clamart, 26 in Strasbourg, 20 in Montpellier), 62 deliveries (20 in Paris/Clamart, 23 in Strasbourg, 19 in Montpellier) and 71 children born alive (22 in Paris/Clamart, 27 in Strasbourg, 22 in Montpellier) were reported. Conclusion: The three French PGD centres cover a large panel of diseases and manage to assist an important number of couples. Even with constant resources, their activities have increased in France this last three years. However, some couples still wait for a very long time before being taken care of. Allocations of new resources from the health ministry should decrease this waiting list in the next few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]