Prenatal diagnosis in Italy

In Italy, there are about 560,000 births per year. The number of prenatal diagnoses (PND) performed is estimated at 80,000 examinations per year, but no official data are available regarding the distribution of the different procedures. There are no official registers, either at a national or at a regional level, concerning PND and particularly the invasive procedures (as amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, chordocentesis). Thanks to the direct interest of some scientific societies, such as the Italian Association of Medical Cytogenetics, the Italian Association of Medical Genetics, the Italian Society for the Study of Metabolic Hereditary Diseases and the Italian Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, it has been possible to identify the number and distribution of public and private structures interested in genetic counselling and prenatal diagnosis during the last decades. As to the congenital malformations, there is a regional epidemiological system of surveys (started in 1982) co-ordinated by the Epidemiological and Biostatistical Laboratory of the 'Istituto Superiore di Sanità' (National Board of Health). This institution has published data for the period between 1986 and 1990 concerning the trend of incidence for the most important malformations at birth. Cytogenetic PND in public services is allowed for the following indications: maternal age 35 and over, previous child with a chromosomal anomaly, parent with a constitutional chromosomal abnormality and abnormal findings at the ultrasound examinations. Current methods in use consist in echography, amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, fetal blood sampling and maternal serum screening. At the moment, new approaches to the fetal tissue sampling are, as follows: amniotic fluid filtration, transcervical cell sampling and isolation of fetal cells from maternal blood. Furthermore, areas under development are 3D sonography and first-trimester anatomic survey sonography. PND is financed by regional laws, the National Health Service and private funds. There is a current legislation on termination of pregnancy (Law 194/1978). This law permits voluntary interruption of pregnancy within the first 90 days, while it is permitted between 90 and 180 days only in cases of severe fetal anomalies and over 180 days for serious risks for the woman's life: but it is necessary to do everything to save the fetal life. No law has been issued yet on pre-implantation diagnosis. Presently, the major problems are: the unbalanced distribution of financial resources among the different regions, the irrational number and distribution of centres for PND, inadequate prenatal counselling, especially in central/southern Italy, where counselling is somehow lacking. Therefore, guidelines for appropriate prenatal counselling should be established. For the future, we believe that the best results in this field are probably related to the advances of research (there is a target programme of the Italian National Research Council called 'Genetic Engineering', which is in its fourth year of financing). This programme will hopefully be cost-effective and improve the quality of PND so that more congenital anomalies can be detected at lower expenses in the future.