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Ultrasound News
Pregnancy Tests and Scans
Most women know they are pregnant before the official medical confirmation, and the knowledge creates a host of emotions. Emotions can range from wonder and delight to worries about the health of the unborn child.
Many of these worries have no grounding, but in the past there was no
way of telling if a baby was healthy or not anyway.
All this has changed with a few simple tests, which are routinely
offered during neonatal visits.
Genetic Tests
The first screening test is performed at 8-12 weeks and can be done in
the physician’s office. ChorionicVillus Sampling (CVS) uses cells from
the uterus and therefore does not carry the risks of amniocentesis. This
does not mean that the procedure is risk free. However, CVS is only a
screening test and is not as accurate a diagnosis tool as taking the
amniotic fluid. If a problem is indicated from the CVS test then a full
amniocentesis is recommended, as well as an ultrasound. These procedures
are done 12-15 weeks into the pregnancy.
Ultrasounds are used to get a picture of the baby and can ascertain
physical problems, as well as determine the age and sex of the unborn
child. The ultrasound can also show physical problems with the child,
just as the amniocentesis can show genetic problems.
According to Dr. Brian Skotko of Children’s Hospital of Boston, when
deciding which tests to take or omit, “Some want definitive answers and
others do not want the risk.”
Physicians are usually required to offer the testing, but women are not
obligated to take them.
The Down Syndrome Diagnosis
Down syndrome is just one of the genetic results that can be determined
from these tests. The syndrome, however, is not a black or white
condition and its severity cannot be diagnosed from prenatal testing.
Not being able to determine whether a child will be profoundly affected
by Down syndrome, or whether the child will be at the high or low end of
the affliction is a problem when contemplating abortion of the Down
syndrome fetus.
Even more troubling for some is that statistics show that 6 percent of
the time the tests do not prove out, and the newborn or aborted fetus is
perfectly fine.
Imperfect Embryos
The advancement in medical technology is not restricted to just testing
the fetus. For women undergoing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) it can
determine problems even before the eggs are implanted.
Shira Weiss had a late stage miscarriage that was determined to be
precipitated by a genetic abnormality in the fetus. When she went for
IVF treatment for another child, the genetic component was obviously a
major part of the concern.
Of the three embryos that were ready for implantation, two were tested
and found to have genetic abnormalities. One did not. Although a single
egg being implanted has far less a chance of culminating in a successful
pregnancy, the risk was sufficient for Weiss when weighed against
another genetic problem. The pregnancy produced a healthy, normal boy.
Wrongful Life
A rather startling piece of legislation has also come to life of late,
which may contribute to the medical community leaning toward the
abortion option. The idea stems from parents who claim they should have
been given genetic counseling before conceiving a child, or a woman who
should have had genetic testing and did not. In both these cases, the
children who are born with genetic problems, claim that the doctors were
negligent in allowing them to be born at all.
The global courts are still struggling with this issue.
By Kate Copsey / STAFF
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