[Fetal diagnosis from the mother's blood--noninvasive screening of chromosomal aberrations]

In Finland, the screening of fetal chromosome aberrations is currently based on combined screening in the first trimester. Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is a new method enabling a more accurate screening than combined screening of fetal chromosome aberrations from the mother's blood sample by analyzing cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA). In addition, it is possible to determine the gender of the fetus or assess the number of sex chromosomes. Although NIPT is an accurate screening method, an aberrant result should always be confirmed by an invasive fetal diagnostic test.