IVI Middle East Fertility Clinic Stresses the Importance of Pre-marital Screening to Avoid Passing on of Genetic Diseases to Children

•    The pre-marital screening is a customary blood test, which allows couples to be genetically screened for incurable inherited diseases before they start a family. 
•    The test checks for 549 diseases, 600 genetic disorders and 4000 genetic mutation by a blood sample only.

Abu Dhabi, UAE - 12 April 2017: Marriage is a significant event in a couple’s life. However, most of us are not fully aware of our state of health or what we might be carrying forward genetically. Though you might not have any health problems in the past, you may be a silent carrier of a hereditary disease, which could affect your children once you choose to conceive. The IVI Middle East Fertility Clinic is a highly-advanced IVF institution with clinics in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Muscat. The institution stresses on the importance of pre-marital screening for all couples trying to conceive – whether naturally or through IVF means. 

IVI Middle East Fertility Clinic in the UAE conducts the pre-marital screening through a simple blood test known as Carrier Genetic Test (CGT) – an exclusive offering of IVI Middle East. CGT allows couples to be genetically screened for incurable inherited diseases before they start a family. It checks for 549 diseases, 600 genetic disorders and 4000 genetic mutations by a blood sample only which is studied in the lab in detail. Pre-marital screenings serve to detect potential health problems, which not only cover thalassemia but also a wide spectrum of genetically transmitted problems. 

”It is noted that 18 per cent of paediatric hospital consultations see visits for genetic problems and 20 per cent of infant mortality in developed countries is due to genetic disorders. A pre-marital screening test like CGT prevents patients from transmitting diseases to their children even if they are the carriers. As it detects genetic incompatibilities at an early stage, it reduces the chances of transmission of such diseases,” said Dr. Human Fatemi, Medical Director at IVI Middle East.”

“Generally, parents who are carriers of serious genetic diseases realize it after giving birth to an affected child. Genetic diseases cannot be cured, but can be prevented. CGT allows us to identify such couples. This can prevent serious genetic diseases that lack treatment option. A positive result means the presence of one or more mutations in the individual. In that case, the test should be carried out in the other member of the couple too. If both are carriers of a mutation in the same single gene, there is high risk of having a sick child. In such cases there are options to conceive healthy children with IVF means,” said Dr Fatemi. 

“In the UAE and the region where consanguineous couples – those marrying first or second-degree relatives is common, such pre-marital screening is highly recommended. The test not only provides peace of mind, but also ensures that if couples are told they are at risk of having a child with an inherited disease, they can be assured of absolutely healthy babies via IVF,” added Dr. Human Fatemi.

IVI Middle East Fertility Clinic is a part of Equipo IVI, headquartered in Spain, is the undisputed world leader in the field of infertility treatments. The group has the largest presence worldwide with 61 clinics and over 135,000 healthy babies born. The group commenced its operations with its first fertility clinic in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Within a short span of a year, the clinics have witnessed a high success rate of over 70 per cent and 200+ successful pregnancies. 

As a pioneer of several techniques and treatments in In-Vitro Fertilization, IVI Middle East has continuously invested in research and development to bring out new and effective treatment approaches, which today contribute significantly to the assisted reproduction techniques industry in the UAE giving aspiring couples access to international standards of reproductive medicine.