Preconception Testing at Palm Beach Fertility Center

Assessing Your Risk for Inheritable Genetic Disease

Our mission at Palm Beach Fertility Center involves making every effort to help you get pregnant and have a healthy baby. Advanced reproductive technology and genetic testing gives us the ability to identify barriers and pave the way for successful conception. One of these valuable tools we use is preconception carrier testing, which provides a clear picture of the risks for passing along inheritable genetic disease.

Who Needs Preconception Testing?

As a scientist and father, Dr. Mark Denker recommends preconception genetic testing for any couple preparing to start a family. The relatively inexpensive test involves a blood or saliva sample and provides comprehensive conclusions about what is contained in your DNA. You can learn your carrier status for over 100 inheritable diseases, including hemophilia and some forms of leukemia.

• We typically screen for 13 recessive gene disorders:
• Bloom Syndrome
• Canavan disease
• Cystic fibrosis
• Familial Dysautonomia
• Fanconi Anemia
• Fragile X
• Gaucher disease
• Hexosaminidase A Deficiency
• Mucolipidosis
• Niemann-Pick disease type A
• Sickle cell anemia
• Spinal Muscular Atrophy
• Tay-Sachs disease
• Thalassemia

Testing for Specific Genetic Diseases

While anyone can benefit from genetic testing, certain situations necessitate it. For example, cystic fibrosis affects Caucasian, European, or Ashkenazi Jewish couples; African-Americans are at risk for sickle cell disease; and Jewish women of European descent are susceptible to Tay-Sachs disease. Anyone with family ties to the Mediterranean, Africa, or Far East Asia will benefit from preconception genetic testing.

We will likely recommend preconception carrier testing when one or more of the following conditions are met:

• You have a child with a genetic disease
• You have a known family history for inheritable gene disorders
• Your ethnicity or country of origin puts you at risk for genetic disease
• You are a woman under 40 with an elevated follicle-stimulating hormone level

Fertility Treatment to Address Single Gene Disorders

If have tested positive for a single gene disorder, we are here to explain the odds for passing along the recessive gene when you get pregnant. Both you and your partner will need to be tested to fully assess the risk. At Palm Beach Fertility Center, we offer targeted treatment to help you protect the next generation, as we want to ensure that you have a healthy pregnancy and give birth to a healthy baby.

Thanks to DNA mapping and advances in genetic testing, we have reduced the occurrence of inherited conditions by 90%.

Dedicated Palm Beach Fertility Specialist

If you are seeing Dr. Mark Denker, it means you are committed to maximizing your chances for getting pregnant and you are a good candidate for preconception testing. Information that preconception testing provides can help you avoid passing along a genetic disorder to your baby. Our IVF lab and experienced reproductive endocrinologist can provide you with options to avoid passing along genetic disease.

Call us today at (888) 819-5177 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Mark Denker.