Five couples at risk of producing offspring with X-linked recessive disease underwent in vitro fertilisation with a view to preimplantation determination of embryo sex and selective transfer of females. On day three postinsemination, one or two blastomeres were removed by embryo biopsy, and used for dual fluorescent in situ hybridisation with X and Y chromosome-specific DNA probes. In two cases, two female embryos were transferred and one pregnancy, (sex confirmed), is ongoing at 19 weeks. All eight embryos from one couple were of such poor quality that diagnosis was possible in one only. In the remaining two cases no embryos were transferred due to the detection of an abnormal number of X chromosome signals. Investigation of the biopsied embryos that were not transferred revealed evidence of mitotic non-disjunction in one and of complete X monosomy in a second. A surviving fetus with this latter constitution would have developed Turner syndrome and would also have been at high risk of X-linked disease. The use of fluorescent in situ hybridisation rather than the polymerase chain reaction allowed the detection of abnormal copy numbers of X chromosomes thus preventing the transfer of potentially abnormal zygotes.