A new era in prenatal care: non-invasive prenatal testing in Switzerland

Summary QUESTIONSUNDERSTUDY:Prenatalcarehasbeensignificantlyinfluencedbytheintroductionofnon-invasiveprenataltesting(NIPT)foraneuploidiesin2012.TheaimofthisstudywastodescribethecurrentimpactofNIPTonprenatal care.METHODS:Weperformedaretrospectivedataanalysisincluding all women with singleton pregnancies whopresented for first trimester screening (FTS) between1October2011and30March2013andthoseseekingNIPT.AccordingtotheresultsofFTSthewomenwerecategorisedintothreeriskgroups:lowriskforaneuploidy( 1:50).Theywerecounselledabouttheavailableoptionsforinvasiveprenataltesting(IPT)andNIPTavailableatthetimeofFTS.Theninemonthsbeforeandafterthein-troductionofNIPTwereevaluatedregardingfurthertest-ing after FTS.RESULTS:Intotal,951womenwereincluded:505exam-inations(group1)werecarriedoutbeforeNIPTbecameavailable,446(group2)thereafter.Ingroup2,9.0%(40/446)hadNIPT.Here,60.0%(24/40)hadalowriskaccord-ingtoFTS.Ingroup2therewasanincreaseof3.6%ofad-ditionalprenataltestsafterFTS.Thegreatestincreasewasnotedintheintermediate-riskcategory(10.7%).Thenum-ber of invasive prenatal tests decreased by 67.4%.CONCLUSIONS:Weobservedanotableincreaseinpren-ataltestingaftertheimplementationofNIPT.NIPTisanadditionaltestforwomenwhoneedmorereassurance.Sincetheoptionsforpregnantwomenbecomemorecom-plexandthecostsofNIPTarehigh,prenatalcounsellinghas become more challenging.