Prenatal Blood Tests – What to Expect
Navigating through the many different pre-natal blood tests can be confusing. Names like Sequential Screening, NIPT, and Carrier Screening meant nothing to me before being pregnant. As my doctor explained the different blood tests, I found myself being even more confused. I just wanted to know which blood test was the best option for my baby and me.
As you enter your second trimester and prepare to take multiple blood tests, it’s best to do your research beforehand. This way you’ll know what to expect and won’t be overwhelmed by the different options.
Here is a breakdown of the different blood tests:
Sequential Scree...
Source: Cord Blood News - December 18, 2017 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Maze Cord Blood Tags: pregnancy Source Type: blogs
Down Syndrome Disappearing in Iceland; Similar Events Will Become More Common
We are now living in an era when infants born with genetic disorders such asDown Syndrome will disappear in some societies (see:"What kind of society do you want to live in?": Inside the country where Down syndrome is disappearing). Below is an excerpt from this article explaining this process. Read the whole article if you are so motivated. With the rise of prenatal screening tests across Europe and the United States, the number of babies born with Down syndrome has significantly decreased, but few countries have come as close to eradicating Down syndrome births as Iceland. Since prenatal screening tests w...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 14, 2017 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Testing Lab Industry Trends Medical Ethics Medical Research Source Type: blogs
End-of-Life Healthcare Sessions at ASBH 2017
Conclusion: Patients with LEP had significant differences and disparities in
end-of-life decision-making. Interventions to facilitate informed
decision-making for those with LEP is a crucial component of care for this
group.
THU 1:30 pm: “But She’ll Die if You Don’t!”: Understanding and
Communicating Risks at the End of Life (Janet Malek)
Clinicians sometimes decline to offer interventions even if their refusal will
result in an earlier death for their patients. For example, a nephrologist may
decide against initiating hemodialysis despite a patient’s rising creatinine
levels if dea...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - July 26, 2017 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
First Kicks by Dr. Greene: Track Your Baby s Development During Pregnancy, by Week
Sign-up here for a set of week-by-week newsletters so you can follow your baby’s development from now until the beautiful moment of birth.
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Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - May 2, 2017 Category: Child Development Authors: DrGreene Team Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
First Kicks by Dr. Greene: Track Your Baby ’ s Development During Pregnancy, by Week
Sign-up here for a set of week-by-week newsletters so you can follow your baby’s development from now until the beautiful moment of birth.
Get Dr. Greene's Pregnancy Newsletter
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First Name
Your baby's due date?
...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - May 2, 2017 Category: Child Development Authors: DrGreene Team Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
IVF patients need to learn that doctors don't have all the answers
Dear Dr Malpani,I read your recent email with interest, as it relates directly to me.After 5 years of IVF and only one successful transfer, which occurred last year at the age of 49 (2016) and I was pregnant for 11 weeks. Unfortunately the embryo failed at 11 weeks due to Edwards syndrome, but these were my own eggs from about age 46.Since this, I have now done two transfers with donor eggs (23 year old donor) and neither has worked.The only successfully pregnancy I had involved a treatment protocol designed by a fertility immunologist, as a result of extensive and expensive blood tests in the US (exactly a you describe - ...
Source: Dr.Malpani's Blog - March 13, 2017 Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: blogs
Trisomy 13 and 18: When a lethal condition is no longer lethal
by Jenni LinebargerWhat is a “lethal condition” really? How does the definition change as medical advances are made? Several times a year, I meet parents who’ve had providers tell them that their baby has a “lethal diagnosis” (or worse, that the diagnosis is “incompatible with life”) when testing detects trisomy 13 or trisomy 18. Such dire prognostication sets the stage for all future interactions with the health care community. For some, it becomes a rallying cry to prove providers wrong, for others it becomes a sealed fate. For all, it declares a level of certainty that we just do not have.This summer, ...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - August 15, 2016 Category: Palliative Care Tags: ethics hospital linebarger NICU pediatrics surgery Source Type: blogs
Simon’s Law – Requiring Parental Consent for DNAR Orders
Both Kansas and Missouri are considering enacting Simon's Law. This legislation would prohibit clinicians from placing DNAR orders on critically ill children without their parent's knowledge or consent.
KNOWLEDGE: Prohibiting secrecy and covertness is a solidly defensible goal. As a series of recent high profile UK court decisions explain, clinicians should not write DNAR orders without family knowledge.
CONSENT: But the Simon's Law legislation also requires clinicians to obtain parental consent. I have called this sort of requirement a "red light" law. And I have been critical of...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - April 22, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care medical futility blog syndicated Source Type: blogs
Rationing – The Case of NICU and the Place of Cost-effectiveness Thresholds
Julian Savulescu will be delivering the next public lecture at the Australian Centre for Health Law Research: "Rationing - The Case of NICU and the Place of Cost-effectiveness Thresholds" on May 18.
When health professionals are considering whether or not to provide life-sustaining treatment to a critically ill newborn infant, they often consider the best interests of the child. Frequently, they will consult with the infant’s parents, and take into account parents’ interests and their views about treatment for the child. However, there is one important ethical factor that health professionals do not neces...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - April 30, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope Tags: Health Care medical futility blog syndicated Source Type: blogs
Maine Legislation Would Mandate Written Consent before Stopping Life-sustaining Treatment
Four months ago, I blogged about Simon's Law, a bill that was introduced in Missouri to prohibit the unilateral withholding and withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment from children like Simon Crosier, a baby born with Trisomy 18.
The bill would... (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - March 30, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope Tags: Health Care medical futility blog syndicated Source Type: blogs
Prenatal Testing
During pregnancy a woman should be having tests done left and right to ensure that she and her baby are in good health. Below are some of the various tests that should be done throughout pregnancy, and some that should be done during specific trimesters. All of them are similar, yet each test is unique. These tests provide useful information about your baby to help prepare you for when it arrives.
General Prenatal Tests
There are five tests in particular that you should definitely have done in the early stages of your pregnancy. Blood tests are a given, and should be done regularly. Urine tests are useful when trying to ...
Source: Cord Blood News - December 12, 2014 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: joyce at mazelabs.com Tags: babies blood disorder brain development Cord Blood medical research parents pregnancy amniocentesis birth defects CVS prenatal tests Source Type: blogs
Extra Chromosome Silenced in Down Syndrome Cells
Amazing news was announced in the field of gene therapy this week. Scientists in Massachusetts have taken the cells of a person with Down Syndrome and have silenced the extra 21st chromosome in those cells. The Guardian has the story:Scientists have corrected the genetic fault that causes Down's syndrome albeit in isolated cells raising the prospect of a radical therapy for the disorder.In an elegant series of experiments, US researchers took cells from people with DS and silenced the extra chromosome that causes the condition. A treatment based on the work remains a distant hope, but scientists in the field said the...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 18, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
