A New Era in Prenatal Diagnosis: The Use of Cell-Free Fetal DNA in Maternal Circulation for Detection of Chromosomal Aneuploidies

Pregnant women identified as high risk based on the prenatal screen can then undergo invasive procedures such as amniocentesis to confirm the diagnosis. Unfortunately, a large number of women with unaffected pregnancies undergo invasive procedures, putting the fetus at unnecessary risk for miscarriage.