Cytogenetic confirmation of a positive NIPT result: Evidence-based choice between chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis depending on chromosome aberration

Abstract

It has been shown that in non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) there is a small chance of a false-positive or false-negative result. This is partly due to the fact that the fetal cell-free DNA present in maternal plasma is derived from the cytotrophoblast of chorionic villi (CV), which is not always representative for the fetal karyotype due to chromosomal mosaicism. Therefore, a positive NIPT result should always be confirmed with invasive testing, preferably amniocentesis, in order to investigate the fetal karyotype. However, since this invasive test can only be safely performed after 15.5 weeks of gestation while NIPT can be done from the 10th week of gestation, this potentially means an unacceptable long waiting time for the prospective parents to receive a definitive result. Based on our experience with cytogenetic investigations in CV and the literature, we determined whether CV sampling may be appropriate for confirmation of an abnormal NIPT result.