What's that statistic about amnios again... it only detects how many percent of...

[emkana]

... conditions/syndromes?

My cousin's wife, who is 44, is having a baby. The amnio was clear, which is great, but having had ds after a clear amnio I have become far more aware about the limitations of the amnio, and I'm sure I saw a percentage somewhere once.

Does anybody know?

[Gess]

it will be tiny. It could detect more if you know what you're looking for (so can run a specific genetic test), but otherwise it will only really detect gross chromosome abnormalities - I think. Not sure if there's anything else they routinely test for.

[Gess]

and theh its not always helpful- my friend came back with a mosaic result-- so some cells normal, some affected (extra Y chromosome) but they couldn't tell if the extra chromosomes were confined to the placenta (in which case they'd have no effect) or in the baby (in which case they'd have a variable effect which was very hard to predict).

[emkana]

Thanks Gess (are you who I think you are?)

I was just feeling a bit irritated by my extended family today saying that everything was great because the amnio was fine - didn't feel that I could rain on their parade, but nevertheless got me thinking.

[Gess]

oh yes- I do know what you mean (and I am who you think I am). I always think of ds1 who was born apparently "normal" and spent almost the first 3 years of his life as "normal" and now will need 24 hour care for the rest of his life blah blah blah! Nothing would ever have picked that up....... The majority of children with DS that I've come across (because lets face it that what everyone thnk about) are streets ahead of ds1 so I do think its a bit ironic!

I suppose a clear amnio will give her some piece of mind, but I do know what you mean,. But you're right, you can't say anything......