Down Syndrome is the most common genetic disorder that doctors see, "one in 800 babies born has down syndrome, the leading cause of mental retardation in varing degrees."
Dr. David Flannery of MCGHealth Children's Medical Center says its caused by a chromosome abnormality.
People usually have 46 chromosome, they come in pairs. a down syndrome person has an extra chromosome 21, so instead of having 2 copies of chromosome 21 they now they have 2.
Dr. Flannery, "that disrupts the balance and functioning of this many genes. and causes a variety of effects affects on how a person grows and develops and functions."
Researchers in Hong Kong are looking for ways to isolate the DNA of the unborn baby to check for any abnormalities.
"One of the weaknesses in this study it mentioned several false positives test results and didn't really give you information for you to figure out, maybe the false positives are women who had multiple pregnancy and your actually testing DNA from 3 pregnancy ago."
The American College of Obstetrician and Gynecology has a policy of recommending that maternal serum testing get done on pregnant women.
Flannery, "it can measure early in the pregnancy many different chemical levels in the mothers blood, that can then measure if there is an increased risk of having a child with a chromosome abnormality."
As Scientist continue their research, Doctors will continue treating patients with already proven methods.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement