BACKGROUND The discovery of cell free fetal DNA (cff-DNA) in maternal plasma has brought new insight for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. Combining with the rapidly developed massively parallel sequencing technology, noninvasive prenatal detection of chromosome aneuploidy and single base variation has been successfully validated. However, few studies discussed the possibility of noninvasive path...

Genetic technology has advanced dramatically in the past few decades, and its applications and use in caring for and counseling pregnant women has been transformational in the realm of prenatal diagnosis. Two of the newer genetic technologies in the prenatal setting are chromosomal microarray and whole-exome sequencing. Chromosomal microarray analysis is a method of measuring gains and losses o...

Objective: To develop a Canadian consensus document with recommendations on maternal screening for fetal aneuploidy (e.g., Down syndrome and trisomy 18) in pregnancy. Options: Pregnancy screening for fetal aneuploidy started in the mid 1960s, using maternal age as the screening test. New developments in maternal serum and ultrasound screening have made it possible to offer all pregnant patients...

Prenatal screening for chromosomal aneuploidies is a fundamental part of routine obstetric care in most countries. Typically, maternal age, weight, ethnicity, serum biomarkers (including pregnancy-associated plasma protein A, human chorionic gonadotropin, -fetoprotein, inhibin A, and estriol), and sonographic features (i.e., nuchal translucency) are included in a risk algorithm to determine the...