Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Support Group

All couples planning a pregnancy should be offered a carrier test for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

one in 40 people carries the gene that causes SMA
SMA is the second most common autosomal recessive genetic diease

SMA is the leading genetic killer of children under the age of two.

Currently there is no treatment or cure for SMA

Speak with your doctor or genetic counselor before initiating a pregnancy . you could be a carrier of SMA and not even know it. Your family may not have had any history of SMA to be a carrier. one in every 40 people carries the mutated gene that causes SMA that is 7 million Americans.
Carriers of the mutated gene for SMA have no symptoms and are not sick. Carriers of SMA typically have no traceable family history of the disease . A simple blood test will determine if you are a carrier.

If you are a carrier options are
Go throuh in vitro fertilzation and test the embryos uneing PGD
Adopt
Use donor sperm or donor eggs
Not to have children
Posted on 04/01/09, 10:56 pm