Prenatal Testing - How important are they?

By Alice Noman

What are the Factors?

Women having a baby is 35 years or older, as she will be at higher risk of having a child with a chromosomal abnormality. Screening is done for common genetic disorders such as down syndrome (trisomy 21 ) or spina bifida. Having family history of an inherited condition such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy rises the chances.

Woman having much higher chances of inheriting disorder such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia or Tay-Sachs disease. Exposure to chemicals or other environmentals agents.

Why Prenatal Tests Are Performed?

Prenatal testing is used to diagnose abnormalities in the fetus. It can identify various things such as problems in the mother which can affect the health of the baby, chances of fetus having certain congenital, genetic, or chromosomal problems, baby having fetal abnormalities such as organ development, as well as heart related malfunctioning., characteristics of the fetus such as the size, gender, age and most importantly the placement of the uterus during the pregnancy period.

Some of the prenatal tests are meant for screening and point out towards the possibility of the problem. Other are diagnostic, which employs a variety of techniques to determine the health and condition of an unborn fetus, and can determine with a fair degree of certainty- whether fetus has a specific problem.

It is very important that one monitors baby development during pregnancy and in the interest of making the more specific determination, the screening test may be followed by a diagnostic test.

Some other Tests

Few other prenatal tests that one might have to undergo during pregnancy are:

Ultrasound, Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) – it involves taking a tiny tissue sample from outside the sac where the fetus grows, Glucose Tolerance Testing (GTT), Non Stress Test (NST), Contraction Stress Test, Amniocentesis (involves testing a sample of amniotic fluid from the womb), Maternal Blood Screening, Percutaneous Umbilical Blood Sampling (PUBS)

How can one Prevent Birth Defects?

The expecting mothers can avoid birth defects by taking due care of their bodies during pregnancy by:

Quit smoking

Avoid alcohol

Proper rest

Get prenatal care

Exercise Regularly

Taking prenatal vitamins

Eat a healthy diet

Do meditation