Tay-Sachs disease: prenatal diagnosis

Fifteen pregnant women with a 25 percent risk of delivering a child with Tay-Sachs disease were monitored by amniocentesis and hexosaminidase A assays of amniotic fluid, uncultured amniotic cells, and cultured amniotic cells. Tay-Sachs disease was diagnosed prenatally in six fetuses; the diagnosis was confirmed in one child after birth and in five fetuses after therapeutic abortion. Prenatal diagnosis indicated the absence of Tay-Sachs disease in nine other fetuses; this diagnosis was confirmed postnatally in six, three are still in utero.