Prenatal Diagnosis: Screening and Diagnostic Tools

Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2017 Jun;44(2):245-256. doi: 10.1016/j.ogc.2017.02.004.

Abstract

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that all pregnant women be offered aneuploidy screening or diagnostic testing. A myriad of screening and testing options are available to patients based on their risk profile and gestational age. Screening options include traditional serum analyte screening, such as first-trimester screening or quadruple screening, and more recently, cell-free DNA. Diagnostic testing choices include chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis. The number of screening and diagnostic modalities complicates prenatal counseling for physicians and can be difficult for patients to grasp. Appropriate pretest and posttest counseling is important to ensure adequate understanding of results and ensure testing strategy is concordant with patient goals.

Keywords: Amniocentesis; Aneuploidy; Cell-free DNA; Chorionic villus sampling; Genetic screening; Noninvasive prenatal screening.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Amniocentesis
  • Aneuploidy
  • Chorionic Villi Sampling
  • Counseling
  • Female
  • Genetic Testing
  • Humans
  • Mass Screening / methods*
  • Pregnancy
  • Prenatal Diagnosis / methods*