Pregnancy, child bearing and prevention of giving birth to the affected children in patients with primary immunodeficiency disease; a case-series

Patients with primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) who survive to adulthood and willing to have a child mostly are worried whether their disease affects their fertility and/or pregnancy and also if their child would be predisposed to PID.

We report the outcome of conception, pregnancy and their management in 9 families with definite diagnosis of PID. A chronic granulomatous disease subject with an uneventful pregnancy developed fungal sacral osteomyelitis few weeks after delivery. A pregnant common variable immunodeficiency disease (CVID) patient with idiopathic thrombocytopenia had platelet count dropped before delivery. A sever neutropenic mother who refused to get IFNγ delivered two healthy children. A CVID case intolerant to IVIg with eclampsia and PTE delivered a baby. Another CVID female gave birth to a baby without being on any treatment since she was not diagnosed with immunodeficiency disease at that time. A healthy girl was implanted via preimplantation gender selection in a family who owned a Wiskott Aldrich-affected son. A family who had two children with Ataxia Telangiectasia used donated oocyte for their 3rd child. Prenatal genetic diagnosis was used to screen the fetus for the impaired BTK and CVID genes detected in sibling and father respectively in 2 separate families.

Pregnancy in PID patients is more complex than normal population. Because, not only it has the chance of being inherited by the offspring, but also there are some risks for the mother if she has any kind of immunity component defects. So consultation with a clinical geneticist is crucial to choose the best available approach. They also should be observed and followed by a clinical immunologist to take the best possible safe care.