In utero transfusion gives meaningful survival to fetuses with alpha thalassemia major
(View Complete Item Description)This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview: "No pregnant woman wants to hear that her developing baby has a life-threatening genetic disease. Historically, women carrying babies with alpha thalassemia major, a type of hereditary anemia, faced the difficult choice between terminating a pregnancy or continuing on despite nearly assured fetal death. Now, researchers at UCSF have reported another option: in utero blood transfusion, or IUT. In this procedure, healthy red blood cells are infused into the fetus, which can reverse the effects of ATM and increase the chance of survival. Fetal hemoglobin – a protein with two alpha and two gamma subunits – is the main oxygen supplier in utero. Patients with ATM lack alpha subunits. As a result, their hemoglobin holds oxygen so tightly that it cannot be released into developing tissues. While a lack of oxygen is harmful at any age, the effects in utero are particularly severe – depriving a developing brain of oxygen, for example, can cause devastating neurologic injury..." The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Reading
