Patients attending Consultants at the Cork Clinic can avail of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) also known as the The Ariosa HarmonyTM Prenatal Test. This is a simple blood test that can be done on or after 10 weeks of gestation. As it is a simple blood test it confers no risk to the baby. The test is highly accurate and the results are available within 2 working weeks.
In brief, the test captures DNA from the fetus which circulates in the mother’s blood to give the most accurate screening approach in estimating the risk of a fetus having a common chromosome condition sometimes called a trisomy. This occurs when there are three copies of a particular chromosome instead of the expected two. The test looks to detect the following trisomies:
- Trisomy 21
- Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome)
- Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome)
- Sex chromosome conditions
Information on the above chromosomal disorders can be found here
Further information on the Harmony test can be found by here;
Click here to download Harmony testing leaflet
Click here to go to the Harmony website