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World J Obstet Gynecol. Nov 10, 2015; 4(4): 86-94
Published online Nov 10, 2015. doi: 10.5317/wjog.v4.i4.86
Universal screening for hemoglobinopathies in today's multi-ethnic societies: How and when
Piero C Giordano
Piero C Giordano, Department of Human and Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands
Author contributions: The author solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares that this review is not subjected to submission to ethical codes and that no conflicts of interest are present.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Piero C Giordano, PhD, Emeritus Associated Professor, Clinical Biochemical Molecular Geneticist, Consultant at the Hemoglobinopathies Laboratory, Department of Human and Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Einthovenweg 20, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. p.c.giordano@lumc.nl
Telephone: +31-71-5269800 Fax: +31-71-5268276
Received: July 19, 2015
Peer-review started: July 27, 2015
First decision: September 17, 2015
Revised: September 27, 2015
Accepted: October 16, 2015
Article in press: October 19, 2015
Published online: November 10, 2015
Processing time: 113 Days and 16.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: All women in most modern countries are offered screening for rhesus antagonism and infectious diseases early in pregnancy. Hemoglobinopathy (HBP) screening done together with rhesus screening using an inexpensive routine high performance liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis analysis could identify all women carriers of the frequent traits associated with the severe forms of HBP. Subsequent partner analysis could identify all couples at risk to be confirmed by molecular analysis in time for prenatal diagnosis when requested. This procedure will allow the prevention task to be offered at the most logical moment and by the most specialized hands of the gynecologists and obstetricians in collaboration with the local labs and the genetic counselors.