NIPT is a major step ahead of invasive prenatal test

The non-invasive prenatal test method has come a long way and has proven its advantages over invasive methods again and again. It has the potential of detecting whether a baby is at any risk of genetic disorders like Down syndrome and Patau syndrome.

All this test needs to get that information is a simple blood test. It greatly reduces the risk and pressure on the fetus just by being non-invasive.

How does scientist tap into fetal DNA using maternal blood?

This is the feature that makes this test so successful and efficient. The thing is during pregnancy about 10% of the total DNA of the mother contains fetal DNA. This fetal DNA circulating inside the mother’s body is what the scientist use to detect any genetic defect in the fetus. Scientists separate maternal DNA from fetal DNA to use as a sample.

NIPT has spread as a great alternative to invasive prenatal tests which include dangerous methods like amniocentesis and CVS.

NIPT produces very accurate results and looks out for any kind of chromosomal unbalance. Some of the reasons why the NIPT test took off was because:

• This test can be done at the very early stages of the pregnancy and hence provides the family time to plan everything.
• The risk of miscarriage is zero. So it is a pretty safe test and can be done easily.
• No specialist is required to take the sample for the test, unlike prenatal test.

Read more on-Sibling DNA testing.