Thursday, April 30, 2015

New Test For Down Syndrome Can Test Sooner and More Accurately


In an article published by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have discovered a new test to test an unborn fetus for Down Syndrome. This new test looks for free fetal DNA in the blood of the mother and the DNA is examined.

Previous tests were not nearly as accurate. The old tests detected 30 out of 38 unborn fetuses known to have Down Syndrome, while the new blood test detected all 38 cases. This 100% detection rate is very impressive, though not very credible, though. Thousands, maybe millions of tests will need to be done in order to substantiate the data that this new test is more affective.

Now that we are able to detect down syndrome so easily, the next step is to develop therapy that can prevent Down Syndrome, or lessen the symptoms. Maybe one day we will be able to test the fetus early enough to reverse the affects of the disorder so that the mother can give birth to a healthy, unaffected baby.

1 comment:

  1. I think that this is a great test and hopefully they can find a way to prevent down syndrome also. It is a very serious syndrome and a test to prevent it could give so many children a chance at a functional life.

    ReplyDelete