Mysuru:  Gunasheela Surgical and Maternity Hospital in city has successfully helped a couple with Sickle Cell Trait to become proud parents of a healthy disease-free baby girl through Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). 

Dr. Vinishree and her husband Alok Kale from Maharashtra and currently residing at Mysuru, were carriers for sickle cell trait. Having been married for four years and trying to become parents for two years, it was an anxious period as they were worried that their baby would be afflicted with sickle cell disease.   

About Sickle Cell Disease

 It is the most common chronic blood disorder with an autosomal recessive inheritance. The disease occurs from a single base mutation in the Beta-Globin chain.  The sickle cell disease occurs when the child inherits one mutated/abnormal gene copy from each parent, therefore having both copies mutated or abnormal.

The couple underwent  In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) at Gunasheela Hospital, wherein 11 embryos were subjected to Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS).  PGD was then performed on 8 embryos of which, one was normal, 4 were carriers for the mutation and 3 were affected with sickle cell disease.  Dr. Vinishree had a single embryo transfer in a frozen cycle and conceived. Her antenatal period was uneventful and she delivered a healthy baby girl with the absence of mutations.

Addressing the media recently, Dr. Devika Gunasheela, Fertility Specialist & Managing Director of Gunasheela Fertility Centre said, “Technology has paved way to ensure hassle-free and healthy birthing. Having been at the forefront of introducing many cutting edge protocols for several decades, we want to maintain this legacy in offering contemporary technology related to producing babies free from certain genetic diseases and Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is one such technology which offers couple with genetic disorders to have healthy babies.” 

 According to Dr. Rajsekhar Nayak, Director, Gunasheela Fertility Centre, PGS and PGD testing by comprehensively evaluating the chromosome number, paves the way for a healthy baby and ensures the genetic mutation is also not passed to next generation. 

Dr. Jayaram S. Kadandale, Cytogeneticist and Scientific Advisor, and Dr. Swathi Shetty, Molecular Geneticist and Scientific Advisor, Gunasheela Fertility Centre, said that Sickle Cell Disease is one of the most common inherited disease worldwide.