Prenatal Screening
Today the demands are for even higher standards in the quality of care, for greater flexibility and convenience in treatment times, and for more prevention through screening and health checks - Lucy Powell
image by: Dr Nisa Ultrasound
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What Fetal Genome Screening Could Mean for Babies and Parents
Today’s genetic technologies are not yet a crystal ball for seeing a child’s future, but doctors are closer than ever to routinely glimpsing the full genetic blueprints of a fetus just months after sperm meets egg. That genomic reconstruction would reveal future disease risk and genetic traits even as early as the first trimester of pregnancy. Fetal screening could theoretically detect every hint of disease-associated mutations or disease-carrier status in a fetus’s genome—sometimes outpacing geneticists’ knowledge of how to interpret such information. It could also reveal nonmedical markers for eye color or athletic prowess.
Advances in fetal cell research, coupled with the ever-dropping…
Resources
New Genetic Tests for Women Who Are Expecting
A growing array of tests to check if women are carriers for mostly rare diseases.
Newborn screening in the genomics era: are we ready for genome sequencing?
Recent advances in next generation sequencing (NGS) could potentially revolutionize newborn screening, the largest public health genetics program in the United States and around the world.
Will new prenatal tests scare parents into bad decisions?
Sex chromosome disorders, detected by the tests, are common but often misunderstood.
What Fetal Genome Screening Could Mean for Babies and Parents
A noninvasive screening method could provide expectant parents with unprecedented and comprehensive fetal genetic data, but it also presents new ethical quandaries.
CDC
CDC recommends all pregnant women be screened for HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), and syphilis during pregnancy. For women at higher risk of infection, we recommend prenatal screenings for hepatitis C (HCV), chlamydia, and gonorrhea. Targeted testing for TB is recommended for women with known risk factors or exposure to TB.
RIVM
Screenings during pregnancy and shortly after birth can identify any complications, diseases or disorders at an early stage, whereupon treatment can be offered. A screening during pregnancy is termed ‘prenatal’; that after birth is termed ‘postnatal’ and together they are known as ‘perinatal’ screenings.
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