During pregnancy our doctors offer special testing to determine if you and possibly your partner carry a gene that may cause a specific medical condition. This is referred to as Genetic carrier screening. One of the most common medical disorders which we test for is called Cystic Fibrosis (CF).
An Overview of Cystic Fibrosis
- Cystic Fibrosis affects about 1 in 3,330 people in the United States.
- It causes the body to produce abnormally thick mucus, leading to life threatening lung infections, digestive problems, diarrhea, poor growth and infertility.
- Symptoms of the disease range from mild to severe.
- Individuals with mild CF may reach adulthood and be unaware that they have the disease.
- The average life span is 37 years of age.
- CF does not affect intelligence.
Testing for Cystic Fibrosis
If the mother is tested and found to be a carrier of one of the genes then the father will be tested. If both parents are noted to be a carrier then the child has a 50% chance of being a carrier and 25% chance of being affected by the disease.
Image Source: http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/Testing/
To have cystic fibrosis, a child must inherit one copy of the defective CF gene from each parent.
The vast majority of our patients continue with the pregnancy, but will use this information to prepare for the future.
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