Genetic Counseling

Genetic Counseling is an integral part of medical genetics services. Individuals or families who are affected or at risk of being affected by a genetic disorder benefit from the service. The families are referred to our center by medical practitioners; support groups or service organizations, while some of them come on their own interest. Couples with history of pregnancy losses, intrauterine death of fetus, neonatal deaths, children with disabilities or mental retardation or genetic defects like Thalassemia, Muscular Dystrophy, Spinal Muscular atrophy, Albinism etc and couples married within the family (consanguineous) often attend the sessions.

The genetic counselor elicits information on the purpose or indications for which counseling is sort. A review of the medical history, family pedigree for three generations, reports of any clinical or genetic tests is made and recorded in the Genetic Counseling form. It is a process of compilation of all the information to arrive at a diagnosis of the disorder, the inheritance pattern and risk estimation, the protocol for preventive or diagnostic measures in future and communicating the information to the patients/families in simple terms so that they can take important decisions based on the information and options.

Families are helped to understand the nature of the disorder and its consequences, the mode of inheritance, the risk of recurrence of the disorder in siblings or relatives, preventive measures, management of the affected individuals and future possibilities like gene therapy. Along with increasing the awareness about the genetic condition, counseling generally offers great reassurance to families by communication of the facts and figures.