Gender Selection in Cyprus:

Gender selection technologies now allow us to choose the sex/gender of your baby before you are even pregnant! There are many reasons why couples might want to select the sex of their future baby.

A couple may already have children but they may want to select the sex of their next child for family balancing purposes. Some couples might only be interested in having a single child and they may want to select the gender of this child.

Alternatively, a couple may want to opt for gender selection for genetic disease prevention purposes in cases where a certain sex may have a predisposition to certain genetic linked diseases. Some patients may have a higher risk of passing down an X-linked (sex-linked) disease to their offspring, meaning, choosing the sex of your child can possibly reduce the likelihood of your child having a genetic disorder.

Even if you do not have any infertility problems and you are able to conceive naturally on your own, gender selection will still require you to undergo infertility testing so that we can make an assessment of your unique fertility. In this way, our specialists can identify the right protocol of treatment suited for you. This is the most important step before having treatment. At North Cyprus IVF Clinic, we offer a number of gender selection treatment options and deciding which option is better suited for you will depend on a number of factors. These are as follows:

  • Age of the female patient.
  • Previous history of conception.
  • Hormone levels of female patient to be assessed on day 2 or 3 of her menstrual period along with an ultrasound scan for identifying antral follicle count.
  • Semen analysis for the male partner. We will need to know about details of semen parameters.

Based on your unique assessment, we will be able to design a suitable treatment protocol aiming to optimize the outcome of your treatment.

Gender Selection Methods

There are two distinct methods of gender selection at North Cyprus IVF Center:

  1. MicroSort Sperm Sorting
    Our clinic is the only official clinic in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa to offer MicroSort sperm sorting, which is a patented technology from the Genetics and IVF Institute. No other clinics are authorized to offer this gender selection technology to their patients unless they request us to perform the sperm sorting for them. MicroSort offers this technology in collaboration with only a limited number of clinics and physicians around the world. For more information about location and authorized doctors, you can visit microsort.com.

    MicroSort procedures requires that the sperm is within certain parameters. There are restrictions with respect to sperm count, concentration, motility and morphology in order for a sperm sample to qualify for the MicroSort procedure. In order to make sure that the male partner’s sperm parameters are sufficient for our sex selection program, we will need to see the male partner’s semen analysis report so that an assessment can be made.

    Any given sperm sample is likely to contain similar amounts of sperm which carry the X chromosome (the chromosome which is responsible for producing a female offspring) and the Y chromosome (the chromosome which is responsible for producing a male offspring). MicroSort is a mechanical procedure that helps separate sperm cells into two separate compartments as X and Y bearing sperm cells. Once the MicroSort procedure is completed, the relevant sperm sample sorted into the relevant compartment is used during the IVF cycle in order to produce embryos of desired sex.

    MicroSort technology works based on DNA density and separates the sperm into X and Y bearing cells in two different compartments of the MicroSort equipment. This method has about 75% accuracy with male gender selection and around 90% accuracy with female gender selection. In other words, once the sperm has been sorted into desired sex, the sperm that we have will contain 75% male sperm cells if you asked for male selection and 90% female sperm cells if you asked for female selection. The reason for the error margin is because the equipment works on the principle of differing DNA densities between X and Y chromosomes. When sperm has defects such as missing parts of its information, it can be misclassified into the wrong group.

    Even though MicroSort is not a 100% gender selection method due to its margin of error, it still provides a very good rate. Especially if you are not too specific over gender selection but would like to maximize your chances of having a child of desired sex, MicroSort will be a good idea.

    One of the advantages of the MicroSort technology is that, it allows us to offer gender selection with non-invasive IUI cycles. IUI cycles require much milder medication regimens and don’t require any surgical procedures. The chance of being able to choose the sex of your baby without any invasive procedures is a good option for most couples.

    However, it should be kept in mind that MicroSort IUI is most suited for younger couples in their 20s and overall success rates of pregnancy with IUI cycles will be around 25%. It’s a low cost and non-invasive option, but its success rates will not be as high as the IVF treatment options.

  2. Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS)
    Because of IVF laws in our country, PGS can only be used as a sex selection method in case of a genetically inheritable X-linked disease that runs in the family. This is due to ethical reasons since the gender of the embryos can only be understood after the embryos have been created. Therefore, almost half of the embryos would be destroyed for not being the right gender. In order to avoid this, PGS is not used alone as a sex selection method.


Cost of Gender Selection in Cyprus

  1. MicroSort IUI – costs 3,000 Euros
    This option is the least invasive gender selection option for fertile and younger couples who would like to specify the sex of their next child for family balancing purposes. The MicroSort sperm sorting technology is coupled with the IUI – Intra-Uterine Insemination method in order to assist couples to conceive a child of desired sex. Once the sperm sample is processed into X and Y bearing cells, the cells carrying the chromosome for desired sex will be injected intra-uterine so that they can move around and fertilize the mature eggs.

    The IUI procedure itself is one of the least invasive fertility treatment options. As such, it does not allow us to do much inside the laboratory in terms of fertilization or embryo manipulation. This means that while it will offer a higher chance of success compared to intercourse, it will offer a much lower chance of success compared to IVF treatments. Due to its lower level of success chance compared to IVF treatments, IUI is usually recommended for fertile couples in their 20s or perhaps early 30s. After 30 years of age, success rates with IUI treatment will drop substantially, making it an ineffective method of treatment for couples in higher age brackets.

  2. MicroSort IVF – Costs 4,200 Euros
    With this treatment option, the sperm sorting process is still the same. The sperm sample is sorted into X and Y bearing cells. In this case, given that the patients are undergoing an IVF cycle, the mature eggs are collected from the ovaries so that they can be fertilized with the sorted sperm sample in the laboratory. The IVF part of this treatment option is exactly like the IVF/ICSI treatement. Given that an IVF cycle allows us to obtain a good number of eggs from the female patient, it gives us a chance to create several embryos that are of desired sex so that the highest quality embryos can be transferred into the uterus in order to improve chances of success with pregnancy.

  3. MicroSort IVF with PGDCosts 6,200 Euros
    MicroSort with IVF/PGD is the treatment option we recommend patients in older age brackets. But if the patient is releatively younger, then only using one intervention at a time is always more sensible to keep things as close to natural as possible.

    Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening (PGD or PGS) is not used as a gender selection method. However, in older age brackets, The aging oocyte (egg) is associated with several problems including mitochondrial dysfunctions, aneuploidy and epigenetic changes. In order to make sure that your embryos do not suffer from a chromosomal aneuploidy (abnormality), it is recommended that patients over the age of 30 have PGS screening for their embryos after MicroSort gender (sex) selection has been performed.

    In natural pregnancies, genetically abnormal embryos either eliminate themselves at very early stages of pregnancy without the pregnant woman even noticing, or cause early miscarriages prior to 12 weeks of gestation. In order to avoid this incidence, we recommend using PGS. PGS will eliminate the likelihood of transferring a genetically abnormal child. The additional cost of PGS on top of MicroSort IVF treatment is 2,500 Euros.

Success with Gender Selection at North Cyprus IVF Centre

Success is highly dependent on the age of the female patient, her ovarian function and the male partner’s semen analysis. The older the age, the lower the success with any form of fertility treatments. Therefore, success under 35 years of age is considerably higher than success with patients in more advanced biological ages. For more information on our success rates with various gender selection methods, you can visit our “Success Rates” page on official website.

Please contact us for more detail on Gender Selection in Cyprus.