ByZarafshan Shiraz, New Delhi
Prenatal genetic testing is now fairly reasonably priced and being more and more used for enhancing reproductive outcomes in each pregnant girl as genetic testing prenatally, a.okay.a earlier than start has given the chance to display for quite a lot of extreme genetic abnormalities and take vital motion in time. This helps in stopping the start of youngsters with genetic start defects thus saving monetary and emotional burden on the household.
Addressing myths on prenatal genetic testing (Digpu)
With the arrival of such testing, {couples} at the moment are in a position to get hold of details about genetic issues of their foetus and make an knowledgeable determination about the identical. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Veronica Arora, Assistant Consultant at Institute of Medical Genetics and Genomics at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, revealed, “Genetic testing is not offered to obtain information about the foetus to predict non-disease-related traits. Such practice is strongly condemned. Some common myths about prenatal genetic testing include that it is only done for older women, it is very expensive, it is only done for Down syndrome, not required in the absence of family history, or done only for high-risk women.”
Highlighting that testing within the prenatal state of affairs consists of non-invasive and invasive genetic assessments, she elaborated –
- Non-invasive assessments: Biochemical markers, non-invasive prenatal screening are these that are carried out on the blood of the mom. Testing for frequent aneuploidies and thalassemia is included on this class, and these are supplied universally to all pregnant ladies.
- Invasive genetic testing: Amniocentesis or Chorionic villus sampling is proscribed to fetuses vulnerable to having a genetic dysfunction. This consists of these in danger attributable to constructive household historical past, superior maternal age, constructive screening assessments for aneuploidies or ultrasound abnormalities.
Addressing myths on prenatal genetic testing, Dr Ramesh Hariharan, CEO and Co-Founder of Strand Life Sciences, shared –
- Prenatal genetic testing might help decide if the child, whereas nonetheless within the mom’s womb, has a genetic abnormality.
- Pre-natal testing needn’t be invasive for the child; some abnormalities within the child may be detected from the mom’s blood; these embrace giant scale genomic abnormalities that trigger Down’s syndrome.
- Not all abnormalities may be simply detected from the mom’s blood although, notably finer genetic abnormalities, these might have a process referred to as amniocentesis or CVS to entry cells from the child.
- All constructive outcomes detected from mom’s blood needs to be confirmed by an amnio or CVS.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
