| PRENATAL
DIAGNOSIS - Genetic Counseling
Often women see a genetic counselor before having
ultrasound examination and other services at our center. Genetic
counselors are health professionals with specialized graduate
degrees and experience in the areas of medical genetics and counseling.
They work as members of a health care team with
the geneticist, perinatologist, and others, providing information
and support to families who have members with birth defects or
genetic disorders and to families who may be at risk for a variety
of inherited conditions. They identify families at risk, investigate
the problem present in the family, interpret information about
the disorder, analyze inheritance patterns and risks of recurrence
and review available options with the family.
Genetic counselors frequently speak with patients
about complex scientific and emotional topics. Usually the issues
involve genetic conditions or birth defects or possibilities of
those things occurring. The reason you are seeing the counselor
and the perinatologist will usually be the main subject of counseling.
For example, a common reason to come to our center is for advanced
maternal age, defined as being 35 years old or older at the time
the baby is expected. Often, the genetic counselor acts as an
interpreter for the medical information and a support person if
the information turns out to be stressful.
Your genetic counselor asks extensive questions
about your family history, as this is the way we understand inheritance
patterns. It might be helpful for you to use the opportunity of
a pending genetic counseling visit to research the health and
medical conditions of extended relatives.
Genetic counselors also provide supportive counseling
to families, serve as patient advocates and refer individuals
and families to support services.
When the patient has a very complex problem,
such as an abnormal ultrasound result, or when a patient needs
to be medically evaluated because she has a suspected genetic
disorder herself, a clinical geneticist will see the patient.
A clinical geneticist is a doctor who specializes in genetics.
The geneticist also supervises the genetic counselors and reviews
the counseling they provide for quality assurance.
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