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Prenatal testing is a tool that can be used to detect some birth defects at various stages prior to birth. Prenatal testing consists of prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis , which are aspects of prenatal care that focus on detecting problems with the pregnancy as early as possible. [ 2 ]
A number of defects can be detected before birth by different prenatal tests. [10] Treatment varies depending on the defect in question. [7] This may include therapy, medication, surgery, or assistive technology. [7] Birth defects affected about 96 million people as of 2015. [11] In the United States, they occur in about 3% of newborns. [8]
Congenital heart defects, hydronephrosis, omphalocele and meningocele (spina bifida) are also common. Cystic hygromas occur but are uncommon. [citation needed] Triploid fetuses have intrauterine growth restriction beginning early in the pregnancy, as early as 12 weeks, and does not affect the head as severely as the body.
Spina bifida (SB; / ˈ s p aɪ n ə ˈ b ɪ f ɪ d ə /; [9] Latin for 'split spine') [10] is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. [1] There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, meningocele and myelomeningocele. [1]
A pregnancy test detects the presence of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin in a person’s body. The body doesn’t produce that hormone until several days after conception.
Almost all women choose to have this screening, and of those who do and receive a positive diagnosis, 95% percent choose to abort. Since nation-wide testing was first offered, the number of babies born to parents who chose to continue a pregnancy after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome in Denmark has fluctuated from zero to 13 per year. [15]
Rubella infection in pregnancy can result in various outcomes ranging from asymptomatic infection to congenital defects to miscarriage and fetal death. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] If infection occurs 0–11 weeks after conception, the infant has a 90% risk of being affected. [ 1 ]
DES gained notoriety when it was shown to cause a rare vaginal tumor in girls and young women who had been exposed to this drug in utero.In 1971, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report showing that seven of eight girls and young women (ages 14 to 22) who had been diagnosed with vaginal clear cell adenocarcinoma had been exposed prenatally to DES. [5]