Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is a non-invasive, safe and simple prenatal test used to accurately assess for genetic disorders in a foetus. This test uses advanced bioinformatics technology to assess the foetal DNA (of placental origin) present in the mother’s blood.
NIPT detects aneuploidy (extra/missing copy) of a chromosome and is used for ascertaining the following chromosomal disorders in the foetus:
- Down syndrome (Trisomy 21, presence of extra chromosome 21)
- Patau Syndrome (Trisomy 13, presence of extra chromosome 13)
- Edward’s syndrome (Trisomy 18, presence of extra chromosome 18)
- Turner syndrome (Monosomy X)
- Klinefelter syndrome (Triple X)
- Jacob’s syndrome (Extra Y chromosome)
NIPT can also be used for screening additional chromosomal aberration, caused due to missing (deleted) or duplicated (copied) portions of the chromosome.
