In recent years, Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) has emerged as a transformative advancement in prenatal care, offering expectant parents critical insights into their baby’s health with unprecedented accuracy and safety. This innovative approach has quickly gained popularity for its ability to detect chromosomal abnormalities early in pregnancy, minimizing the need for more invasive procedures.
Below, we explore the benefits of NIPT, its accuracy, how it compares to traditional prenatal testing methods, and how it can transform the performance of your laboratory.
What is Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT)?
NIPT is a screening method that analyzes cell-free fetal DNA (cfDNA) present in a pregnant individual’s blood. This test, typically performed as early as the 10th week of pregnancy, can detect genetic conditions such as Down syndrome (Trisomy 21), Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18), Patau syndrome (Trisomy 13), and sex chromosome abnormalities, like Turner syndrome.
Since it relies on a simple blood draw, NIPT poses no risk to the fetus, unlike invasive methods such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS).
NIPT vs. Traditional Prenatal Testing
Traditional prenatal screening methods, such as the first-trimester combined test (including nuchal translucency ultrasound and blood tests), have been the standard for decades. While these methods are valuable, they come with limitations such as lower accuracy and a higher rate of false positives, often leading to unnecessary anxiety and follow-up tests.
Invasive diagnostic tests like amniocentesis and CVS, while highly accurate, are typically reserved for high-risk pregnancies due to their associated risks. NIPT bridges the gap by providing reliable screening without the need for invasive procedures.
We offer the Vanadis NIPT system
The Vanadis® NIPT system from Revvity is an automated cell-free DNA testing platform designed to make non-invasive prenatal testing accessible to more women – and more cost-effective for your laboratory. By targeting thousands of chromosomal sequences, the Vanadis® system can bring high precision non-invasive prenatal testing to your lab, counting an average of 650,000 molecules per chromosome.
Advantages of the Vanadis NIPT for your laboratory
- No PCR, no sequencing: Vanadis is the only NIPT screening platform to enable targeted cfDNA analysis without PCR, instead directly capturing target fragments and labelling them for counting.
- Easy to use and learn: Its walkaway automation minimizes hands-on time and allows for quicker test results, available within 2-3 days.
- Scalable platform: Requiring only a single technician to run up to 14,000 samples per year, Vanadis empowers your laboratory under ever-increasing workloads.
- Proven clinical performance: Its high-precision technology improves the detection and false positive rates while minimizing the no-call rate.
Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing represents a monumental step forward in prenatal care. By integrating NIPT into standard prenatal care, healthcare providers are ushering in an era of safer, more accurate, and personalized care for expectant families.
Find out more about our integrated laboratory solutions in non-invasive prenatal testing.