Abstract
Using cell-free DNA in maternal serum to detect fetal aneuploidy has been shown to have high sensitivity and specificity. The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes and knowledge of Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) fellows regarding noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT). A 13 question survey was sent via listserv to US-based MFM fellows. One hundred sixteen fellows responded, a 42.3 % response rate, with >75 % reporting they are comfortable ordering NIPT. Most (82 %) preferred that a patient discuss options with a provider or genetic counselor. Three common methods used to learn about NIPT were: formal educational activities (n = 78, 69 %), self-review of the literature (n = 76, 67 %), and discussions with peers (n = 73, 65 %). On questions related to trisomy 21, accuracy was >70 %. However, accuracy was lower regarding use in twin pregnancies (42 %) and monosomy X screening (50 %).
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Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine and Dr. Suneet Chauhan for sending the survey to the MFM fellows.
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Conflict of Interest:
Paul Swaney, Emily Hardisty, Lauren Sayres, Samantha Wiegand and Neeta Vora declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human Studies and Informed Consent:
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
Animal Studies:
This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
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Swaney, P., Hardisty, E., Sayres, L. et al. Attitudes and Knowledge of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellows Regarding Noninvasive Prenatal Testing. J Genet Counsel 25, 73–78 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-015-9844-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-015-9844-6