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Article: Heart Treatment's Value Doubted; Earlier Test for Birth Defects Comparable to Amniocentesis
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- March 9, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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An experimental test to check for birth defects early in
pregnancy has been found to be nearly as accurate and as safe for the
fetus as amniocentesis, the test commonly done later in pregnancy.
In a report in today's New England Journal of Medicine,
researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD) and eight medical centers compared the new test,
chorionic villus sampling, with amniocentesis in almost 3,000
pregnant women.
Chorionic villus sampling (CVS), in which a thin tube is inserted
through the mouth of the uterus to remove a small piece of the
placenta, has gained popularity in recent years because it can detect
a chromosome abnormality before the ...