The test that is proposed as alternative to amniocentesis It is a non-invasive prenatal test, available to all women, and could be performed without risk. It could be requested, therefore, regardless of age and other factors that may contribute to pregnancy complications. It would be done in the early stages of pregnancy and would have no risk.
Recently Lola explained to us that the end of amniocentesis is getting closer. I wanted to know more details about this procedure because, as I will tell you below, it is a subject that has affected me very deeply and I think it will also interest our readers.
To me, the amniocentesis It is a test that terrifies me about the abortion rates as a result of its performance and also because when the results are achieved, pregnancy is already very advanced. The news that it is possible to replace it has seemed to me very important for the health of women and babies, both for the physical issue, and for the enormous tension that an amniocentesis poses.
My friends have gone through it and it has been very hard, both for those who have been scared to receive a good result, and for those who, already having a huge bond with the baby, have found that she suffered very serious problems. I have also known cases of loss of a fetus that also found out that he was healthy.
One of them, whose emotional itinerary I lived very closely, suffered greatly, although a Down syndrome with very serious cardiac malformations was already anticipated by previous ultrasound studies. We look for all available evidence that could help us know without waiting for amniocentesis. We needed this alternative.
We found a lot of data and the possibility of doing a special ultrasound that could give us a lot of information. It was done and it was not hopeful. But she also wanted to have absolute diagnostic security to make the decision to move forward or not, to be prepared. It was his son, he needed to know. Fear for months the confirmation was devastating.
The day he went to do the amniocentesis His son's little heart, which was really affected by what was feared, had stopped beating. You can surely imagine the suffering of those months, in uncertainty and waiting. Surely, he would have made one decision or another, even if her son was not born due to natural causes, she would have better coped with the process knowing what was expected in advance.
This is why amniocentesis seems too late and I have great hope that faster and safer diagnostic procedures will be developed for all mothers. A real and safe alternative to amniocentesis.
I wanted to know more about how this test really works to tell you. Labs that are working on it, Sequenom, explain that it is intended to offer all the accurate information to women, their doctors, and genetic counselors and that doing it early would reduce the need for amniocentesis and would contribute to the care and prevention of birth defects.
To do it, the fetal nucleic acid in a blood sample from the mother. With this technology it is promised to discover the problems of incompatibility of HR and genetic abnormalities, including trisomy 21 and also the sex of the baby. Applying this technology, they explain that diagnostic problems can be faced frequently appear in pregnancy and reproduction.
So far doctors have used tests such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus analysis to determine the health of a fetus. The introduction of Sequenom nucleic acid technology achieves a non-invasive and safe alternative to the success of pregnancy.
Early diagnosis is important because it can help doctors identify at-risk patients and provide treatment if possible.
According to Dr. Kenneth Moise, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine at Baylor University in Houston: “It is a technique that potentially involves one larger step to determine genetic conditions in the fetus. The ability to make an early diagnosis is the key that opens the door for the future treatment of many birth defects before the child is born. ”
Harvesting placental tissue cells, as required for chorionic villus analysis, or entering the uterus to take a sample of the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby, as is done with amniocentesis, reliable data is obtained but at the cost of invading the mother's body.
With this new type of analysis the genetic material of the fetus safely from the mother's blood. The process is simple: a sample of maternal blood is taken as in any test and is used to examine the genetic state of the fetus as there are indications of this in the maternal bloodstream.
Really, the possibility of a alternative to amniocentésis It is close and necessary for the physical and emotional integrity of women.
Official site | Sequenom, More information | ACC, Alternatives to Amniocentesis In Babies and more | The end of amniocentesis, getting closer, How amniocentesis is done in images, The risks of amniocentesis
