Reply To Anonymous

Hello Dr Jason.

I am thalassemia carrier. I just went to see my doc and my doc now wants to check my husband's full blood count. However my husband works in Shanghai and won't be back until mid Dec. Is it ok to wait till then? I am 4 1/2 months pregnant.

Thanks.

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Hi, Anonymous,

Your problem needs urgent action!!

Since you have already known that you are a Thalassemia carrier(地中海貧血), your husband should be checked for his status before the pregnancy. That is the reason the doctors usually encourage the couples to perform pre-marital medical checkup to identify this problem early.

Currently you are 18 weeks into your pregnancy. You can't wait until mid of December because at that time you are 22 weeks already. It is too late to do anything if your husband is a carrier as well.

Since Full blood count is a simple and widely available test, I advise your husband to do the test in Shanghai now and fax the result to your doctor as soon as possible.

If your husband is a carier as well, 25% of the chance that your baby will develop severe Thalassemia Major. This type of disease requires life-long blood transfusion and it will bring severe emotional distress to your family.

With the modern medical service, the doctor can diagnose your baby whether have Thalassemia before the delivery and this should be done before 22 weeks. Amniocentesis (羊膜穿刺术) is a procedure to obtain small amount of amniotic fluid (羊水) to check for the Thalassemia gene.

Amniocentesis

If your husband is not a carrier, your baby is safe.If your husbnd is a carrier, you need to undergo amniocentesis to determine your baby status.


Anyway, I wish you luck in your subsequent follow up with your doctor.