The role of thalassemia screening in pregnant women

With the continuous improvement of living standards, more and more families are beginning to pay special attention to their children. Many women start to make adequate preparations before pregnancy, just to be able to give birth to a healthy baby. However, the emergence of thalassemia children in recent years always makes many families suffer from economic and mental torture. In this case, the fetus is generally stillborn, or even ends its life a few days after birth. If it can be checked on time during pregnancy, it can reduce the pain. Let's understand the role of thalassemia screening in pregnant women.

The role of thalassemia screening in pregnant women

Generally speaking, if both husband and wife are carriers of the same type of thalassemia gene, their children have a 25% chance of being normal, a 50% chance of being a thalassemia gene carrier, and another 25% chance of being a major thalassemia patient. To effectively prevent this disease, blood needs to be drawn for peptide chain testing and gene analysis.

The mental and financial burden that children with severe thalassemia bring to their families is unbearable. Severe α-thalassemia usually causes fetal stillbirth or death after birth. The impact of severe β-thalassemia is even more severe. Infants with this disease usually develop the disease within three to six months after birth and require long-term blood transfusions and injections of iron-removing drugs, with high monthly treatment costs. The children eventually often die from excessive iron load caused by long-term blood transfusions, and the mental and financial burden caused by this is even more long-term.

There is currently no cure for thalassemia. To prevent this disease, pregnant women and their spouses should undergo premarital examinations and prenatal genetic diagnosis to avoid giving birth to the next generation of children with thalassemia.

Can thalassemia in pregnant women be cured?

Thalassemia is mainly treated with prevention. Mild asymptomatic cases do not require treatment, while severe thalassemia requires hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Without hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, patients can only rely on blood transfusions and long-term use of iron-removing agents to maintain life. Iron-removing agents must be used at the same time. Even so, long-term blood transfusions will cause more and more iron to be deposited in organs such as the liver and spleen, causing these organs to fail and leading to the patient's death. In addition, hematopoietic liver cell transplantation also carries considerable risks.

Pregnant women with severe thalassemia should pay special attention. If examination confirms that the fetus has severe thalassemia, it is best to perform an artificial abortion and terminate the pregnancy. If the test results show that the fetus' genes are normal or that it has mild thalassemia, you can continue the pregnancy and give birth with peace of mind. Mild thalassemia does not require special treatment, while intermediate and severe thalassemia can be treated with blood transfusion and iron chelation. In daily life, pay attention to rest and nutrition to actively prevent infection, and appropriately supplement folic acid and vitamin E.

We all know that thalassemia is an incurable disease and it always brings some tragedy to our lives. The above is an introduction to the role of thalassemia screening in pregnant women. After understanding it, we know that once thalassemia is detected, the pregnancy must be terminated in time to avoid causing us more pain over time. However, we must also take precautions in our lives. Women should try to have a balanced diet and nutrition during pregnancy to avoid anemia.