Today, pregnant women have a number of choices concerning genetic testing and parentage testing of their offspring.
Parentage testing can be performed before the birth of the child in conjunction with other medical or genetic screening, such as Chorionic Villas Sampling or Amniocentesis, it is not recommended to have the procedures performed solely for the determination of parentage.
Chorionic Villas Sampling (CVS)
Procedure that enables the accurate diagnosis of certain genetic disorders between the 6th and 10th weeks of pregnancy. In CVS, a small piece of the placenta is removed through the cervix or through the abdomen. The placenta contains the same genes as the embryo and can be tested for genetic disorders or parentage.
Amniocentesis
Can detect several serious genetic abnormalities. Amniocentesis is a procedure that removes some of the amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus. In amniocentesis, a needle is inserted through the abdomen and uterine wall into the amniotic sac and amniotic fluid containing some embryo cells are removed. The cells can be cultured and tested for genetic abnormalities and paternity.
Umbilical Cord Blood
Parentage testing can be performed from umbilical cord blood collected at birth. In this procedure the doctor collects the child’s blood at birth from the umbilical cord. If a client wants this procedure to be performed, we will send a collection kit to the hospital before birth of the child. The mother and alleged father samples can be collected before or after the birth of the child.
For additional information concerning these or any other GenQuest DNA Services, please contact our friendly staff toll free at (877) 362-5227 or (775) 358-0652.