Noninvasive prenatal testing: limitations and unanswered questions.

The clinical use of noninvasive prenatal testing to screen high-risk patients for fetal aneuploidy is becoming increasingly common. Initial studies have demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity, and there is hope that these tests will result in a reduction of invasive diagnostic procedures as well as their associated risks. Guidelines on the use of this testing in clinical practice have been published; however, data on actual test performance in a clinical setting are lacking, and there are no guidelines on quality control and assurance.

Improving knowledge about prenatal screening options: can group education make a difference?

Objective: To determine if the addition of group education regarding maternal serum screening and diagnostic testing for aneuploidy and neural tube defects improves patient knowledge and affects the uptake of testing compared to individual education alone.

Method: We conducted a prospective study of 443 obstetric patients to assess knowledge of prenatal testing options based on individual provider counseling (n = 331) or provider counseling with supplemental group education (n = 112). We used a chi-square test to compare the number of correct survey answers between the two groups.