What is the best alternative to amniocentesis?

The pregnancy check-up is performed through prenatal diagnostic tests to dismiss any potential abnormalities in the foetus.

The risk that the foetus suffers from chromosome abnormalities, such as Down or Edwards Syndrome, as well as neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, can be assessed with blood tests that are performed in the first trimester of pregnancy and ultrasounds.

Amniocentesis or chorion biopsy are the ultimate techniques for foetal genetic testing. Nevertheless, the emergence of non-invasive prenatal tests have made progress since they allow us to achieve several diagnoses with a simple blood test on the mother.

The non-invasive prenatal test is, as its name suggests, a non-invasive diagnostic test that is performed from as of week 10 of pregnancy via a maternal blood test.  By means of the blood sample, foetal cells that have accidentally passed from the foetus into the mother’s blood are checked for. Through these cells, abnormalities in the most important chromosomes will be dismissed, among them 21 (which means Down syndrome), 18 (Edwards syndrome) and 13 (Patau syndrome).