Question

A 24-year-old African American woman comes to the office with her husband for prenatal counseling. She has a 3-year-old child with sickle cell anemia from a previous marriage, and the child's father died in a car accident. The patient remarried last year and is interested in having more children. She and her new husband do not have sickle cell anemia, and the patient's husband has no other children. However, the patient and her husband are worried that their future children could have sickle cell anemia. A urine pregnancy test is negative. Which of the following is the best initial test that can be offered to this couple?

A Chorionic villous sampling during future pregnancy
B. Maternal hemoglobin electrophoresis
C. Northern blot analysis of paternal blood sample
D. Paternal hemoglobin electrophoresis
E. Paternal karyotypa analysis

Answer 1

The most appropriate test for the couple concerned about the risk of sickle cell anemia in their future children is paternal hemoglobin electrophoresis.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best initial test that can be offered to the couple for prenatal counseling regarding the risk of their future children having sickle cell anemia is D. Paternal hemoglobin electrophoresis. Since the mother has a child with sickle cell anemia, she is likely a carrier of the sickle cell gene. The first step would be to determine whether her current husband is a carrier as well. This can be determined by performing a hemoglobin electrophoresis on the husband's blood sample. Chorionic villus sampling is only done during pregnancy and would not determine the husband's carrier status. Additionally, Northern blot analysis is not typically used for identifying carriers of genetic disorders like sickle cell anemia. Paternal karyotype analysis is not relevant in this situation as sickle cell anemia is a specific gene disorder, not a chromosomal abnormality.