During the last 20-30 years prenatal diagnosis has provided couples to have healthy offspring specially when they know that they are at a risk of bearing a child with genetic disorder. However, during the prenatal/antenatal period, all women need to undergo appropriate time specific screening tests for detecting various congenital and genetic defects. These can be confirmed by both non-invasive (radiological, biochemical and genetic) and invasive tests (chorionic villi testing, amniocentesis and cordocentesis). Genetic disorders affecting any family member of either partner needs to be discussed with a genetic counsellor who will then recommend specific tests for appropriate management.
Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), sometimes called noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS), is a method of determining the risk that the fetus will be born with certain genetic abnormalities. This testing analyzes small fragments of fetal/babies DNA that is circulating in a pregnant woman’s blood. It can be carried out anytime from 10 weeks of gestation/pregnancy
Mother’s blood vessel having babies DNA, which can be collected as a routine blood test.