Prevention of Huntington's Disease
Although you can't prevent the course of Huntington's Disease from occurring if you have the gene, you can prevent the disease from spreading. Couples can talk to a genetic counselor and determine the probability of passing Huntington's Disease on to their children. Once this is done, the couple can decide whether they want to have children or consider an alternative option. Alternative options include adoption or in vitro fertilization and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. This is where eggs are removed from the mother's ovaries and fertilized with the father's sperm in a lab. the embryos are then tested for the Huntington's gene. From there only the embryos that tested negative for the gene are implanted into the mother's uterus.