Two couples in Australia delivered healthy babies using karyomapping technique

12.08.2015

An IVF clinic in Melbourne introduced for the first time in the history of Australia the technique used to identify genetic illness in embryos. Two couples in the country recently became the parents of healthy babies on which the technique, called karyomapping, was performed to rule out the presence of potentially killer genes.

As it is known, karyomapping is a type of a pre-implantation test used before actual in vitro fertilization, or IVF technique is applied. It makes use of DNA fingerprinting to identify defective genes in the embryo.

This technique prevents the couples from passing on the killer genes to their babies, including the ones associated with Huntington’s disease, cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and the genes that increase the risk for ovarian and breast cancer.

Victoria and Mike, a couple from Melbourne, lost their four-week-old son to a rare hereditary condition. The couple, who did not want to lose their second child to the same disease, decided to undergo karyomapping before the IVF. Now, they are proud parents of a healthy baby named Benjamin.

In another case, Sydney-based couple Jonathan and Alex gave birth to Sophie, who was devoid of the defective BRCA 1 gene that increases the risk for ovarian and breast cancer, thanks to karyomapping. Jonathan and Alex had a family history of the defective BRCA1 gene.

The karyomapping technique was introduced in Australia in November 2014 by Virtus Health. It allows for the selection of the “healthy” embryos, that is, the embryos not having any defective gene, to be selected for embryo transfer during the IVF cycle.

As of now, 50 couples in Australia has opted for the technique. However, the first two successful deliveries of the babies have been reported only recently. It further states that it in addition to the IVF costs, the karyomapping-based pre-implantation genetic screening and diagnosis costs around $1,640.

Based on: ibtimes.com.au