[Effectiveness in culturing amniocytes for prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal diseases]

Cytogenetic studies of 150 cell samples were performed. The fetus karyotype was established in 121 cases. Efficiency of the analysis differed significantly, depending on methods of cell cultivation and preparation of chromosome plates: for the in situ method it was 50%; for the trypsin method, 82%; and for the pipette method, 99%. Analysis of 63 samples demonstrated that when the pipette method is used, the results are available as early as within the first week of cultivation; this method is reliable for revealing karyotypic mosaicism in individual cell colonies, can be used successfully from the 16th to the 26th week of pregnancy, and provides a high level of G-staining in prometaphase chromosomes. Comparison of the three methods of prenatal genetics provides unambiguous evidence in favor of the pipette method.