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Prenatal Screening & Diagnosis
Prenatal Genetic Screening
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Prenatal Genetic Screening  


Prenatal genetic screening can tell you your chance of having a baby with Down syndrome, trisomy 18 or an open neural tube defect. It is offered free of charge as a choice to all pregnant women in BC.

Prenatal screening consists of one or more blood tests, which are ordered by your health care provider and can be done at any hospital or laboratory.  Sometimes a special nuchal translucency (NT) ultrasound may be done in addition to, or instead of, the blood tests.  BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre is one of the sites that provides NT ultrasounds.

Once prenatal screening is complete, some women may be offered prenatal diagnostic procedures such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.

For more information, women and their families can visit the BC Prenatal Genetic Screening Program.  

Screening guidelines, requisition forms and blood handling instructions for health care providers are also available on the BCPGSP website.

Updated on June 22, 2009

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