New Prenatal Test For Down Syndrome Less Risky Than Amniocentesis, Scientists Say

ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2008) — Pregnant women worried about their babies' genetic health face a tough decision: get prenatal gene testing and risk miscarriage, or skip the tests and miss the chance to learn of genetic defects before birth. But a new prenatal test could make this dilemma obsolete. The new method, developed by scientists at Stanford University, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, requires only a maternal blood sample to spot chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome. Because fetal DNA shows up in maternal blood quite early in pregnancy, the team says their technique could provide a much earlier diagnosis for fetal aneuploidy than is now available.