Commercial labs not following prenatal screening guidelines

More than two years after a medical genetics organization issued recommendations on noninvasive prenatal screening, a new study finds commercial laboratories providing the tests have not been fully compliant. These tests, which analyze DNA fragments in a pregnant woman’s blood, can help detect genetic disorders including Down syndrome and trisomy 18. Of the 10 companies analyzed, only one provided patients with information on a specific Down syndrome resource that the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics advises. However, most labs followed guidelines on checking specific chromosomes for non-inherited abnormalities.