Beta Thalassemia Prenatal Diagnosis Test

Beta – Thalassemia is known to be the most common autosomal recessive disorder or disease. It forms to be a group of inherited blood disorders. Beta – thalassemia is not just thalassemia, but is an advanced form of it caused when beta chains undergo no synthesis leading to severe anaemia. Prenatal diagnosis is known to be accurate and easy. It is an effective way to carry out the screening of the population thus, facilitating a rapid and quick characterization on the molecular grounds for the couples at risk. Times have developed real quick and now, Beta Thalassemia Prenatal Diagnosis can be affordably and to an extent, be treated.

To understand whether or not the child is affected, a screening test in an antenatal clinic is essential. Results of this screening test reveal and identify the couples at risk. Thus, couples have to undergo a screening test which shows whether they need a prenatal diagnosis for beta – thalassemia or not. The second step is a practical detection and identification of beta – thalassemia. Couples detected positive in the primary test have to go through this confirmatory test. Talk to your doctor about the precautions you both need to take.

Beta Thalassemia Prenatal Diagnosis is a boon to pregnant couples at risk. It helps in identifying the problem at an early stage provided the couple approaches their doctor or their gynaecologist beforehand. The fact that this disorder can be treated and its methods are constantly being upgraded for it to not be too risky is of high benefit to a lot of people or married or expecting couples in the coming times.

Diagnosis of Beta – Thalassemia starts off with a blood test. The doctor tests the blood for Complete Blood Count (CBC). There are a set of other special haemoglobin tests that are carried out.
Blood Transfusion: Moderate or severe thalassemia is treated through blood transfusion of red blood cells.
→An intravenous line (IV) is inserted into your blood vessel using a needle.
→The procedure is known to last for 1 to 4 hours.
→Repeated transfusions are needed for a healthy and satisfactory supply of RBCs because RBCs are known to live up for only 120 days.

Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplant:
→Faulty stem cells are replaced by healthy stem cells from a donor.
→The only effective treatment for thalassemia is the stem cell treatment.
→It is very important to have a healthy donor. Therefore, the procedure is highly risky.

Other methods include Iron Chelation Therapy and Folic Acid supplements.