Medical Health Encyclopedia

Genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis

Many diseases transmitted as a single gene defect can now be diagnosed very early in pregnancy. Because of this some parents choose to become pregnant and have the disease status of the fetus determined early in the pregnancy. The pregnancy is continued if the fetus is disease-free. Parents who decide to continue the pregnancy with a defective fetus may be better prepared to care for the infant by being informed about the disease in advance. For example, genetic diseases that have a diet intolerance component may be treated with specialized diets for the mother and newborn baby.

RELATED TOPICS

Autosomal dominant

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Autosomal recessive

Sex-linked dominant

Sex-linked recessive

For detailed information, see heredity and disease (genetics).

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