Government approves new Down’s syndrome test

A new non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) for down’s syndrome has been approved by the government and is set to be rolled out by the NHS from 2018.

The test has been proved to be a safer and more accurate way to identify Down’s syndrome in the developing foetus and should reduce the number of women who need riskier diagnostic tests in pregnancy that can cause a miscarriage.

NIPT is a simple blood test that accurately informs women about the odds of their unborn child having Down's, or other genetic disorders such as Edwards' and Patau's syndromes, before deciding whether or not to have amniocentesis.

However, critics of the new optional test have highlighted that it may lead to more women aborting babies who are found to have the condition.

Currently, an ultrasound scan, the mother's age and other factors such as smoking are combined to assess the likelihood of a baby having Down's. Any pregnant women with a greater than one-in-150 chance of giving birth to a baby with the condition is offered an amniocentesis, in which a needle is used to extract a sample of amniotic fluid surrounding the foetus for testing to get a clear diagnosis.

Experts have estimated that using NIPT could avoid more than 6,000 of these invasive procedures each year, reducing the number of related miscarriages from 46 to three per year.

Commenting on the news, Dr Anne Mackie, from the UK National Screening Committee, said: "We will closely manage the roll-out of non-invasive prenatal testing to give us a better understanding of the impact it has on the decisions women and their partners make following their test results.

"Key to ensuring we get this right is the work we are doing with patient groups, scientists and clinicians, to help us develop balanced informative resources for the public and health professionals."