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The Gulf region faces certain health obstacles when it comes to consanguineous marriages. Although marriages between relatives play a strong cultural tradition, they can also cause severe birth defects, as parents who are cousins have more than double the risk of conceiving a child with congenital abnormalities.
However, modern science and technology is now giving couples the opportunity to combat birth defects, though preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), although insurances are yet to support such treatments.
The genetic diagnosis, which can be seen as a clinical breakthrough, takes place before pregnancy begins, and helps identify diseased embryos prior to conception.
Dr Michael Fakih, reproductive endocrinologist and fertility consultant and chairman of Fakih IVF Fertility Centre in UAE, (which introduced the very first EmbryoScope to the country), IVF Michigan and the founder of the first IVF centre in Lebanon, spoke to Khaleej Times on how genetic diagnosis can ultimately save lives of future generations.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis, explainedThe scientific breakthrough of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is providing couples in the UAE - with a history of genetic disorders - to conceive healthy and disease-free children.Dr Monika Chawla, reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist at Fakih IVF Fertility Centre in Abu Dhabi, told Khaleej Times that the treatment is crucial for couples hoping to conceive a healthy child, especially when it comes to consanguineous marriages, as it helps avoid congenital abnormalities. "The abnormalities can range from relatively minor problems, such as extra fingers or toes, to major life-threatening diseases, such as holes in the heart or brain development disorders." PGD, which takes place before pregnancy, begins with the process of in vitro fertilisation. The process involves taking the eggs from the woman's body and fertilising them in a laboratory. After three days, the embryo divides into a cluster, which then has one or two cells removed in a biopsy. The removed cells are then evaluated to determine if the inheritance of the problematic gene is present in the embryo. The implantation takes place once the embryos are free of genetic problems, which is then placed in the uterus. RFakih IVF also recently identified rare cancer genes (BRAC-1 and 2), which leads to a 70-80 per cent risk of breast cancer, causing women to undergo mutilating surgery for the removal of the breasts at a young age, to prevent the cancer from developing. Dr Chawla noted that cancer could thus be avoided prior to conception, by identifying the high-risk gene in the embryos and then implanting only embryos with low cancer risk. The centre has recently enabled one of five such PGD-undergone pregnancies, which is a huge breakthrough for reproductive health. Dr Chawla, whose research work has been published in 27 international journals, noted that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel for couples who are afraid of passing their disease to their next generation. "Couples have the opportunity to have healthy babies, despite the fact that they never had disease-free children in their lives." The IVF treatments start from approximately Dh20,000, excluding the drugs, while PGD can cost roughly Dh10,000 - Dh15,000 extra. A price, which can be described as priceless when it comes to having a healthy child. jasmine@khaleejtimes.com |
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