Prenatal Screening

Prenatal care procedures that concentrate on identifying issues with the pregnancy as early as feasible include prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis, which are both parts of prenatal testing. These may be physiologic and anatomical issues with the zygote, embryo, or fetus's health, either before gestation even begins or as early as is practical. Genetic disorders and birth defects like spina bifida, cleft palate, Down syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and fragile X syndrome can be identified through screening for issues like neural tube defects, chromosome abnormalities, and gene mutations. Some tests, like the PAPP-A test for pre-eclampsia or glucose tolerance tests, are intended to find issues that primarily affect the mother's health.