Bangkok--18 Dec--SUPERIOR
“Shadow is just an 11-month old boy, but a victim. He has got pneumonia and an enlarged liver and spleen. He was finally diagnosed with thalassemia. A bone marrow transplantation costing over one million baht is the most effective medical treatment to save his life.”
“Marwin is another thalassemia sufferer. Both his legs are covered in plaster, much like the victim of a terrible car accident. But this is not the case. Rather, Marwin is hurting from the effects of thalassemia, which causes his bones to be brittle and easily broken.”
Thalassemia, an inherited, genetic blood disorder disease, is dangerous and chronic. Patients must struggle through their life in order to fight this severe disease. To live longer, they need constant treatment involving blood transfusions every three weeks as well as clinical visits every week and physical examinations every other week. Worse luck, in cases when bones break, like with Marwin, there are many unscheduled hospital visits that add to the treatment of this disease. Infants with Thalassemia, like Shadow, may grow slowly, develop severe problems or die if they don’t receive early treatment.
The dedication of parents to the health of their children is first and foremost as their children grow. In addition to physical health and development, parents must remember that the social and psychological health of the child really does count. Sad to say, a life with thalassemia is an absolute nightmare for children and their families.
To tackle the root of the problem, parents who want to have a baby free of disease can take advantage of PGD, an assisted reproductive technology. Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) (also known as Embryo Screening) is a form of genetic diagnosis performed prior to implantation. It is a perfect choice for couples at risk of transmitting hereditary diseases to their children. PGD allows scientists to choose normal embryos and transfer them to a woman undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).
PGD is very powerful and can be beneficial to any couple. It can be applied in many different ways to serve the needs of the individual couple. Superior A.R.T., one of the leading providers of PGD in Southeast Asia, offers comprehensive PGD options to interested couples.
Superior A.R.T. also offers PGD to couples who have testable genetic disorders, including thalassemia, breast cancer and many more. We believe that it would be less upsetting to discard an abnormal embryo before implantation, rather than go through early pregnancy and make the difficult decision whether to continue with an abnormal pregnancy or abort it. In case you are not certain of the inheritance pattern of your family’s problem, the centre’s specialists can identify your natural gene error. A search among your family members for a bone marrow donor that can provide HLA matching stem cells may enable you to use PGD to bring a child into the world (this topic will be continued in the next article).
PGD is also used to screen for genetic chromosomal abnormalities due to advancing maternal age. These disorders are more likely to occur in women 35 years of age and older and lead to problems such as Down’s Syndrome or early miscarriage. The chance of these chromosomal problems occurring increases with maternal age, regardless of family history.
In addition, PGD is employed to help couples who seek family balancing. Many couples want to experience the joy of raising a boy and a girl. PGD is the most effective means of gender selection.
PGD requires the biopsy (or removal) of cells from each embryo for analysis. You will need to have an IVF cycle, just like couples with infertility problems, to create a number of embryos. Although many IVF centres offer PGD services, it is best to use a centre that has experience with PGD in order to achieve the best results. This is because embryo biopsy is a highly skilled procedure.
At Superior A.R.T, couples can be assured that they are always in safe hands. The centre employs a team of professionals who have extensive experience and expertise in the diverse areas of embryo science and who use cutting-edge medical equipment. Once the centre receives your blood and DNA test, the specialists builds a probe specifically for your family. When the probe is complete, the biopsied cells are analysed to screen which embryos have transmitted the disease and which embryos are free of the disease.
Other clinics conduct such biopsies at Day 3 of the embryo’s development when they consist of six to eight cells and just a single cell is removed. Unlike other clinics, Superior A.R.T implements advanced embryo culture techniques, allowing the specialists to wait until the embryos have reached their fifth day of development. At that point, they have the option to use a hundred or more cells and then remove three to four at a time. This greatly increases the opportunities for success.
Thalassemia is a lot more common than most people think, particularly in parts of Southeast Asia, including Thailand. According to Ministry of Public Health statistics, for any untested Thai couple without a family history of thalassemia, the risk of carrying a thalassemia gene error is about 40 per cent for each person or about 16 per cent for the couple.
Why take a risk? Have your blood checked to see if you are a thalassemia carrier. And if you are considering a pregnancy, call us and make an appointment. Our physicians are always available to answer your questions and discuss your specific situation.
Superior A.R.T.
2/2 Bhakdi Building, Wireless Road,
Lumpinee, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel. +66 (0) 2 255 4848 Fax. +66 (0) 2 255 8455
www.thaisuperiorart.com
E-mail: [email protected]