During pregnancy, some fragments of the baby's DNA circulate in the mother's blood. Fetal DNA is detectable starting from the 5th week of gestation. Its concentration increases in the following weeks and disappears immediately after delivery.
The quantity of fetal DNA circulating from the 9th-10th week of gestation is sufficient to guarantee the high specificity and sensitivity of the test. The test is performed on a blood sample from the mother with a gestational age of at least 10 weeks.
Through a complex laboratory analysis, the cell-free circulating fetal DNA is isolated from the plasma of the maternal blood.
Subsequently, through an advanced technological process, the entire fetal genome (cfDNA) is sequenced at a high reading depth, using the innovative massive parallel sequencing (MPS)/Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms from ILLUMINA.
The chromosomal DNA sequences are finally quantified through a bioinformatic analysis to determine the presence of any fetal chromosomal aneuploidies.
Useful documents and forms
Prenatalsafe® NIPT request and consent form
Instructions for collecting, packaging and shipping of Prenatalsafe® samples
Patient information leaflet (Prenatalsafe® 3 and 5)