Can I Bear a Baby If I Have Polycystic Kidney Disease(PKD)

PKD can be subdivided into two types---autosomal resessive PKD and autosomal dominant PKD according to different inheritary modes. The former is also called childhood PKD. It is rare in clinic and it usually occurs hours or days after birth. The later is also called adult PKD and it can occur to any age thought it is often found in people that are between 30s to 50s because during this period the cysts will experience rapid growth and cause a series of clinical symptoms and complications.

In case of ARPKD, it is rare in clinical and only when both parents carry the abnormal gene can the children have the disease and the incidence is 25%; in case of ADPKD, it has higher incidence than that of ARPKD because the disease can be inherited with one gene.

So for ADPKD patients, can they be pregnant and can they have a healthy baby without affecting the gravida’s health. If only the gravida has PKD and her husband is healthy, the child has 50% incidence to inherit the disease; if both the gravida and her husband has the disease, then they have at most 25% to have a healthy baby.

The next question is will the pregnancy affect the gravida’s health and safety. Actually this is up to the gravida’s current illness and physical conditions. If she has no high blood pressure and other health issues and the kidney functions have not been severely affected, then she can give birth to the baby. However she needs to have regular checks and have close monitoring of illness progression. However if the gravida has high blood pressure, diabetes or the kidney functions have been damaged, it is not a proper time to have baby. She needs to first bring the illness condition under control and then choose another suitable time under the doctors’ permission and guidance.