Purpose: To evaluate the assumptions on which the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) Standards and Guidelines for detecting mosaicism in amniotic fluid cultures are based.
Methods: Data from 653 cases of amniotic fluid mosaicism were collected from 26 laboratories. A chi-square goodness-of-fit test was used to compare the observed number of mosaic cases with the expected number based on binomial distribution theory.
Results: Comparison of observed data from the in situ colony cases with the expected distribution of cases detected based on the binomial distribution did not reveal a significant difference (P = 0.525).
Conclusions: The empirical data fit the binomial distribution. Therefore, binomial theory can be used as an initial discussion point for determining whether ACMG Standards and Guidelines are adequate for detecting mosaicism.