Bioethical standards and counseling techniques that regulate prenatal diagnosis in the United States were developed at a time when the principal constituency for fetal testing was a self-selected group of White, well-informed, middle-class women. The routine use of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) testing, which has become widespread since the mid-1980s, introduced new constituencies to prenatal diagnos...

OBJECTIVE To determine the correlation of clinical factors and maternal perceptions of pain with genetic amniocentesis. MATERIAL AND METHOD This prospective study of midtrimester, singleton pregnancies was conducted between February 2007 and March 2008. Study variables included patient dermographics, previous amniocentesis, previous abdominal surgery, maternal anxiety score, abdominal wall th...

AIM To describe a new device for the transcervical collection of amniotic fluid (AF) in patients with ruptured membranes, and to compare the concentration of proteins in fluid retrieved by transabdominal amniocentesis and the transcervical AF collector. STUDY DESIGN Paired AF samples were collected in patients with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PROM) (n=11) by transabdominal amniocen...

Objectives. To assess the risk of very low birth weight (VLBW) and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) attributable to second trimester amniocentesis. Methods. Records of 4,877 consecutive amniocentesis, performed between 1997 and 2003, were analyzed. Only VLBW and ELBW in the study population (exposed) and in the control group (unexposed) were evaluated. Comparisons were made between the amnioce...

Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis are prenatal diagnostic procedures that are performed to detect fetal abnormalities. In 1991, concerns about the relative safety of these procedures arose after reports were published that described a possible association between CVS and birth defects in infants. Subsequent studies support the hypothesis that CVS can cause transverse limb defici...

OBJECTIVE To describe the outcome of pregnancies with trisomy 2 in cultures of first-trimester chorionic villous samples (CVS) and determine whether amniocentesis is necessary in the management of such cases. METHODS Cultures of chorionic villi were performed at 11-13 weeks in 37 474 pregnancies. In those with trisomy 2 cells, amniocentesis was performed at 16 weeks. Pregnancy outcome was obt...

BACKGROUND There is an increasing interest in designing decision tools [decision support technologies (DSTs)] that support patients when they have to decide about health matters. The purpose of this review was to describe and evaluate existing DSTs for amniocentesis testing. METHODS Ten medical and psychological databases were searched up to January 2008 and key authors and organizations cont...

AIM To verify the eventual efficacy of lactoferrin (LF), an iron-binding glycoprotein, to decrease the amniotic concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6). METHODS We prospectively enrolled 60 Caucasian patients at the 16th week of their singleton physiological gestation. A vaginal compound containing 300 mg of LF was administered randomly 4 or 12 h prior to amniocentesis, as to obtain 3 groups: A...

Amniocentesis is a technique for withdrawing amniotic fluid from the uterine cavity using a needle, via a transabdominal approach and under continuous ultrasound guidance, in order to obtain a sample of fetal exfoliated cells, transudates, urine or secretions. It can be performed from 16 weeks of pregnancy onwards, with various chromosomal, biochemical, molecular and microbial studies being per...