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Reproductive Times Newsletter
NEWS
FROM REPRODUCTIVE PARTNERS |
Beverly Hills, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, La Jolla and San Luis Obispo, California |
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| (877) 273-7763 |
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| Newsletter
Vol. 18 - October 2006 |
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RPMG Announces New Orange County Location-Opening Soon
Reproductive Partners Medical Group, Inc. is pleased to announce the opening of a new Orange County location, slated to debut at the end of November. This new office, located just off the 405 freeway at Westminster Avenue, provides a convenient venue for our south Los Angeles County and Orange County patients and referring physicians.
The office, which is currently under construction, is located just east of the 405 freeway, Westminster Avenue exit at 13950 Milton Avenue, Suite 100. For further information or to make an appointment, call toll-free (877) 273-7763.
New Technique Helps Couples With Known Genetic Problems
Two sophisticated technologies can now be combined to h
elp parents who carry a genetic defect prevent the passage of that defect to their offspring.
For over twenty-five years, infertile couples have taken advantage of in vitro fertilization (IVF) to help create their families. The latest advance in this reproductive technology is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). This technology allows doctors to select embryos free of a specific genetic problem in order to create healthy babies. This has evolved after complete mapping of the human genome identified the location of over 1000 genetic diseases. Now scientists have the ability to create probes to find a specific genetic problem in as little as a single cell.
Until recently, if a couple was aware of a disease caused by a single gene defect in their family, all they could do to prevent the birth of an affected baby was prenatal diagnosis in the already pregnant woman with amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). These procedures can detect the presence of the abnormal gene in the fetus, but if present, the only alternative to having an abnormal child is to abort the pregnancy. Now with IVF and PGD, embryos can be screened in the laboratory for a specific genetic disease and only embryos not affected with the condition in question are transferred into the mother. This prevents the disease caused by the genetic defect from being transmitted to their child
When either the mother or father is a known carrier of a genetic defect, they can undergo PGD to find embryos harboring the defective gene. While there is a growing list of single genetic defects for which molecular diagnosis is possible, common indications today include cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs, B- thalassemia, muscular dystrophy, and Huntington's disease.
Gender selection of a female embryo is another strategy when the mother is a known carrier of an X-linked disorder for which there is not yet a specific molecular diagnosis. In this scenario, PGD is used to identify the male embryos, half of which would be affected, so that only female embryos will be utilized for the hoped for pregnancy.
Visit The RPMG Forum
Please visit the new version of the Reproductive Partners Medical Group Bulletin Board, the RPMG Forum. Since its inception in 1999, the mission of this bulletin board has been to educate consumers on fertility-related issues. To date we have posted over 60,000 questions and answers and have helped thousands of couples throughout the world better understand their fertility treatment.
To reach the RPMG Forum, go to www.2reproduce.com and go to Bulletin Board in the top navigation. Even if you had been a participant in the previous version, you will need to sign in again with your user name and password. If you have not visited our board before, please read the frequently asked questions and then start posting or just read other’s posts. We hope you find this an educational and enjoyable experience.
There are many new search and security features on the new RPMG Forum to help enhance your experience. One example of the capabilities of this state-of-the-art Forum is our ability to establish a special temporary Forum. In conjunction with this newsletter’s article we have posted a forum on PGD for single gene defects, featuring your questions about and comments about this exciting technology.
We hope you will visit, enjoy, participate and benefit from the RPMG Forum soon. |
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