MicroSort^®
X-Linked Genetic Disease Prevention

The Genetics & IVF Institute is currently funding some of the costs associated with sperm separation for patients with a family history of an X-linked disorder. Please call 1-800-277-6607 for more information.

Most couples at risk for transmitting a X-linked condition are identified by either review of the family history or birth of an affected child.  The ability to separate X- and Y-bearing sperm cells now provides new and previously unavailable opportunities for women who are carriers of X-linked disorders to have an unaffected child.

Over 500 X-linked diseases have been identified and occur in approximately 1 in 1000 live births.  Many X-linked diseases are extremely debilitating or fatal including hemophilia (life threatening and debilitating spontaneous bleeding), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (the most common and severe form of the muscular dystrophies), Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (self-mutilation), and X-linked mental retardation (the most common cause of inherited mental retardation).

Couples at risk for transmitting a X-linked disorder can have an unaffected child by pre-selecting the sex of the child.  In most cases, X-linked diseases are only expressed in the male offspring of carrier mothers. In these cases, girls born from couples at risk for transmitting an X-linked disorder are generally unaffected.  The MicroSort technology significantly increases the chance of conceiving an unaffected child by sorting sperm for the correct (unaffected) sex, the X (female) chromosome-bearing sperm in most X-linked disorders.  There are also some X-linked genetic disorders in which a couple could reduce the risk of passing on the disorder to their offspring by selecting Y (male) chromosome-bearing sperm.