| The invasive procedure aimed at detecting Down's | | | | 95 % per cent of women deemed to be high risk will |
| Syndrome is being blamed for an unacceptable high | | | | not be carrying a baby with the disorder. But most of |
| rate of miscarriages of otherwise healthy babies. | | | | these women end up having the tests anyway |
| Research undertaken by the Down Syndrome | | | | resulting in the unnecessary loss of healthy babies. |
| Education International or DSEI charity found that two | | | | The research has lead to calls for the rapid |
| healthy fetuses miscarry for every three which are | | | | introduction of better screening of mothers-to-be to |
| detected with Down's in the womb. | | | | reduce reliance on the invasive and dangerous tests. |
| The procedures responsible are known as an | | | | The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence |
| amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling which | | | | wants all pregnant women to undergo a combined |
| involves inserting a needle into the abdomen to extract | | | | non-invasive screening procedure which involves both |
| a tissue or amniotic fluid sample for further analysis. | | | | a blood test and scans. |
| The test is given to pregnant mothers who are | | | | Foetal medicine expert Professor Kypros Nicolaides |
| believed to be at risk of delivering a Down's baby after | | | | from London's King College Hospital supports the |
| undertaking a blood test. | | | | reform: "It is completely unacceptable that in order to |
| DSEI chief executive Frank Buckley and lead author of | | | | detect 600, 700 or 800 foetuses with Down's |
| this study which looked at 660 fetuses says that | | | | Syndrome, we must tolerate the intolerable loss of 400 |
| "around 400 babies without Down's Syndrome being | | | | - more or less - normal babies. Our aim must be to |
| lost in the process of preventing the birth of 660 | | | | improve the detection of fetuses with Down's in those |
| babies with Down's Syndrome - that's around two | | | | women who want to have a test and dramatically |
| babies without for every three babies with. I think that's | | | | reduce the number of normal babies that are lost as |
| a shocking ratio." | | | | part of the process of screening and diagnosis. |
| In another disturbing finding, Dr Buckley pointed out that | | | | |