Genetic counselling – Prospective and Retrospective

Genetic counselling is the utilisation of knowledge of genetics to predict the probability of genetic disorders. It is of 2 types:

Prospective genetic counselling
- In this the genetic disorder has not yet expressed itself
- It is done is heterozygotic individuals to assess the probability of having a child with genetic disorders
- If a person is identified as heterozygotic for a genetic condition, he/she should be advised against marrying another heterozygotic individual as there is increased risk of the trait expressing itself in the phenotype
Retrospective genetic counselling
- In this, the disease has already occurred in the family
- This is more commonly done compared to prospective genetic counselling
- This is because, people usually come for genetic counselling only after having a child with congenital anomalies / mental retardation / inborn errors of metabolism
- The interventions as a part of retrospective genetic counselling are:
  - Contraception
  - Sterilization
  - Termination of pregnancy