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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]
The triple test, also called triple screen, the Kettering test or the Bart's test, is an investigation performed during pregnancy in the second trimester to classify a patient as either high-risk or low-risk for chromosomal abnormalities (and neural tube defects). The term "multiple-marker screening test" is sometimes used instead.
An elevated MSAFP measured at 16–18 weeks gestation is a good predictor of open neural tube defects, however the test has a very high false positive rate, (2% of all women tested in Ontario, Canada between 1993 and 2000 tested positive without having an open neural tube defect, although 5% is the commonly quoted result worldwide) and only a ...
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]
This type of testing is offered to couples with an increased risk of having a baby with a genetic or chromosomal disorder. In some cases, prenatal testing can lessen a couple's uncertainty or help them decide whether to abort the pregnancy. It cannot identify all possible inherited disorders and birth defects, however.
Maternal and fetal blood cells may mix during an amniocentesis and, as a result, patients with rhesus (RhD) negative blood types carrying a RhD positive fetus are at risk of Rh sensitization. [ 42 ] [ 1 ] Rh sensitization is a process in which maternal antibodies form against red blood cell RhD antigens. [ 20 ]
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.