Genetic Testing

Preconception Genetic Testing

Preconception Genetic Testing is commonly abbreviated as PGT.

A preconception carrier test lets you know whether you and/or your partner are disease carriers and helps you make important pregnancy-related decisions.

An important step in such tests is identifying a carrier (a person with either mild or no symptoms of the disorder but capable of passing on the disorder to his or her child through a particular gene).

Genetic Carrier Screening

If you both are carriers, you may decide to get pregnant with the options of

• considering prenatal diagnosis (diagnosis of abnormalities early in the pregnancy),
• using In Vitro Fertilisation to select unaffected embryos,
• using donor gametes or
• choosing not to become pregnant.

Preconception Carrier Screening is a screening option available for couples planning to become pregnant that allows their doctor to identify conditions that have the potential to adversely impact the health of their fetus (developing baby) in the future.

This is done at a point when the woman can have the widest range of personal and reproductive choices and helps predict the possibility of having a child with a genetic disorder.

Genetic Counselling

In genetic counselling, a genetic counsellor goes through your family medical history, which helps them to determine if your baby is likely to have a genetic disorder based on the following:

• If there is a history of genetic disorders in your family
• If you have a genetic disorder
• If you already have a child with a genetic disorder
• Your race or ethnicity

Laboratory Testing

Blood or saliva samples are collected. They can be analysed for hundreds of genetic disorders using DNA Analysis.