Foetal sex diagnosis from cervical mucus

Blackwell Publishing, in partnership with Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (RANZCOG) has released a study on foetal sex diagnosis.

The study, conducted by senior researchers at the Monash IVF department, is aimed at validating the accuracy of conducting tests on determining foetal sex by recovering cells from the cervical mucous during early pregnancy. This procedure could be applied as a non-invasive way to prenatally diagnose clinically significant chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome and single gene disorders in early pregnancy (as early as 5-7 weeks); without the risks associated with other tests.

The current foetal cells tests developed by the researchers will be able to provide simultaneous diagnosis of sex, Down Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis, with results obtained within 48 hours. The researchers hope to further develop the test so that they can test for a number of chromosomal and single gene disorders at a much earlier stage of pregnancy than chorionic villus sampling (CVS). This will provide women at genetic risk the option of an early therapeutic abortion in the case of an affected pregnancy.

This article was published in the November issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecolcogy (ANZJOG), and is available online at Blackwell Synergy. (www.blackwell-synergy.com).