A new era in prenatal diagnoses could be seen peeping at the horizon. This is very much different from the previous diagnostic tests.
Prenatal diagnoses were preferably done to monitor the Down’s syndrome, which is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome.
Earlier, the diagnoses were based on chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis.
CVS is done in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, for analyzing placenta cells to detect any genetic abnormalities.
While, amniocentesis is performed at about 16 weeks, it involves inserting a needle to withdraw a small amount of amniotic fluid.
Now, this new and non-invasive technique would determine genetic abnormalities by extracting fetal DNA from blood samples taken from the mother.
Unlike prior tests, which elevated the risk of miscarriage, the new diagnostic tool poses no threat to mother or fetus. The tests produced promising results when performed on 60 pregnant women.
Moreover, Down syndrome testing would no longer hinge on whether the women are older or younger than 35.
