National decline in invasive prenatal diagnostic procedures in association with uptake of combined first trimester and cell-free DNA aneuploidy screening

Abstract

In late 2012, a new screening test for fetal aneuploidy based on circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) became available to Australian women. The introduction of this technology in the United States has led to a reduction in invasive diagnostic procedures. Analysis of the number of amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) procedures performed in Australia from 1994 to 2014 shows that the introduction of cfDNA testing has been associated with the most rapid decline in invasive procedures in the last 20 years. This change has important implications for training in, and maintenance of, the procedural skills of amniocentesis and CVS.