PGD for Genetic Diseases

Annually, more than 30,000 babies with congenital disorders are born in the country while in at least 20,000 cases the problem can be prevented or solved through premarital and prenatal genetic counseling, said Dr Saeed Reza Ghaffari, genetic expert and a board member of Avicenna Infertility Research and Treatment Center.

For parents at high risk of passing on a genetic disorder to their children, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) can be performed, IRNA quoted him as saying.

PGD is a reproductive technology used with an IVF cycle. PGD can be used for diagnosis of a genetic disease in early embryos prior to implantation and pregnancy. Ghaffari urged insurance organizations to cover costs of the services for couples who are at risk of passing on a genetic disease like hemophilia, thalassemia, etc to their children.