When a young couple from India turned to Hadassah for help in treating their daughter who suffers from thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder, they were told that only a bone marrow transplant could save her. Since the bone marrow should be a perfect genetic match, Hadassah physicians, Dr. Michael Shapira from the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Dr. Ariel Revel from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, offered a unique solution. They suggested the mother have another child, conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF) so the eggs could be tested by pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to determine which of the eggs were in genetic match and free of the defective genes. The couple agreed.
The Department of Genetics joined the efforts, tested the 19 eggs taken from the mother, and found one that was a match. A few weeks ago, the egg was fertilized in an in vitro fertilization procedure, and returned to the mother's womb. If the pregnancy proceeds without complications, the new baby could start life with a noble deed – saving his sister's life.