Chromosomal studies of the fetus after a miscarriage are a waste of money
A miscarriage is a heartbreaking event
and the one thing the patient wants to know is – Why did the miscarriage happen
? Did I do something wrong ? And what can we do to prevent this from happening
again ?
This is one of the reasons why a lot
of doctors will send the fetus ( products of conception, POC) for genetic testing
– either FISH or karyotyping or CGH. These are expensive tests, and I think
many doctors do this as a knee jerk reflex – doctors like doing tests in order
to make a diagnosis , and because patients demand answers . ( Some do it
because they make a lot of money by ordering the test !)
I think this test is pointless for
most patients . We already know that the commonest reason for miscarriages ( more than 60 to 70% of the time ) is a genetic
problem with the fetus, and this is Nature’s defense mechanism, to prevent the
birth of an abnormal baby. While these defects are often random, they are
commoner in older women. This is because the eggs of older women have more
genetic abnormalities, because they have “aged” and have genetic defects, which
cannot be screened for. This is why there’s no point in doing
the test for an individual patient – it does not add any value to their life !
Please remember that genetic testing
technology today is quite crude – it only allows us to count the number of
chromosomes ; and to check their shape. Now, even if the test is result is
abnormal, it only allows us to tell the patient that it was th...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Source Type: blogs
More News: Babies | Genetics | Miscarriage | Obstetricians & Gynecologists | Pathology | Pregnancy | Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy | Study | Translocation | Women