Current perspectives of fertility and pregnancy in thalassemia

Expectation to have a family is an important aspiration for a better quality of life for the adults with thalassaemia syndrome. Spontaneous fertility can occur in well chelated and transfused patients but majority are infertile due to hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (HH) and need assisted reproductive techniques (ART). We report our experience of pregnancy following ART in 11 women with ss-thalassaemia major, who had HH with functionally intact ovaries. Pregnancy was achieved successfully by ART only after pre-pregnancy assessment in a multidisciplinary setting. Fourteen healthy newborn infants were delivered. Elective caesarean section was performed in 73%. There were 2 sets of twins and one set of triplet pregnancy. No significant cardiac complications were encountered. The incidence of preterm labour and growth restriction were 3 fold higher than the background population. Breast feeding was encouraged in all cases. In conclusion, pregnancy is feasible and safe in women with ss-thalassemia with normal resting cardiac performance and optimised iron overload in specialist centres under a multi disciplinary team.