MicroSort is a relatively new to assisted reproductive technology and increases the chance of couples having a child of a particular gender. Patients may seek MicroSort for two purposes: family balancing and to prevent sex-linked genetic diseases. Many x-linked disorders such as hemophilia and Duchene muscular dystrophy can effectively be prevented by MicroSort.
Couples with a history of an X-linked genetic disease are good candidates for MicroSort for gender selection. Other couples who wish to balance the gender of their offspring are eligible to undergo MicroSort for gender selection. MicroSort for gender selection in the US is only reserved for clinical use, such as preventing X-linked diseases, not for family balancing purposes. Hundreds of American couples are seeking IVF treatment abroad to escape this.
MicroSort is used before conception to separate sperm into sperm containing female (X) or male (Y) chromosomes (X-bearing sperm). Sperm containing the required gender chromosomes can be inserted into the uterus using IUI or other IVF treatment cycles. Many couples not affected by infertility use MicroSort to balance the gender of their family or to prevent a genetic disease that affects only one sex from being inherited.
For the majority of couples, MicroSort is used with a simple intrauterine insemination (IUI) to achieve pregnancy. On the other hand, for couples with serious infertility problems, MicroSort can be carried out though in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and preimplantaton genetic diagnosis (PGD), to increase the couple's likelihood of a successful pregnancy.