Non-invasive prenatal testing
Non-invadive prenatal testing is the desire of both the mnedical community and the public.Testing for paternity and genetic conditions without doing an invasive sampling method such as CVS or amniocentesis is a dream at this stage. I counselled a woman who was determined to do non-invasive prenatal testing as she did not wish to chance loosing the pregnancy. She had the DNA work done at a respected clinic in the USA where via peripheral blood testing the alleged father had paternity confirmed. Once the baby was born we tested( in our Australian accredited laboratory) the alleged father and he was not the father of the newborn baby and paternity was confirmed with another man. I find it distressing that DNA companies market this technology for which the results have huge implications and get the result wrong. The mother is so relieved that she did not terminate the pregnancy .Non-invasive prenatal testing is not accepted in Australia by medical specialists and consumers should be aware of its limitations and discuss with either their clinician or their genetic counsellor.
