New, cutting-edge prenatal screening technology is about to become available in Australia for the first time, with a non-invasive blood test allowing expecting parents to screen for chromosomal disorders like Down syndrome.
By: Rachel Carbonell
The new, non-invasive blood test has only been available for two years, and up until now only via American companies at a substantial cost.
But the test is about to be offered by Victorian Clinical Genetic Services, a not-for-profit provider of genetic testing, based at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne.
Medical director David Amor said there were good reasons to offer the test in Australia.
“There is certainly a strong benefit in having the laboratory scientists in close communication with the counsellors who are in turn in close communication with the patient,” Associate Professor Amor said.
“Having samples shipped backwards and forwards across the world and having information passing by email or other forms of communication is no substitute for having people in the same room”.
Before new test became available, women could have a first-trimester screening test which gave statistical odds of having a baby with a chromosomal abnormality, or else wait until later in the pregnancy and have an invasive test involving extracting genetic material with a long needle from either the placenta or the amniotic fluid.