Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
View all recommendations from this societyReleased February 3, 2014; under review as of May 30, 2019
Don’t offer noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) to low-risk patients or make irreversible decisions based on the results of this screening test.*
NIPT has only been adequately evaluated in singleton pregnancies at high risk for chromosomal abnormalities (maternal age >35, positive screening, sonographic findings suggestive of aneuploidy, translocation carrier at increased risk for trisomy 13, 18 or 21, or prior pregnancy with a trisomy 13, 18 or 21). Its utility in low-risk pregnancies remains unclear. False positive and false negative results occur with NIPT, particularly for trisomy 13 and 18. Any positive NIPT result should be confirmed with invasive diagnostic testing prior to a termination of pregnancy. If NIPT is performed, adequate pretest counseling must be provided to explain the benefits and limitations.
*This recommendation is currently under review by SMFM.
These items are provided solely for informational purposes and are not intended as a substitute for consultation with a medical professional. Patients with any specific questions about the items on this list or their individual situation should consult their physician.
How The List Was Created
As a national medical specialty society, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine relies on the input of any number of its committees in the development of various documents. In the case of the items included in this list, the Publications Committee reviewed the literature and evidence from SMFM’s published documents for possible topics. For SMFM’s first set of five recommendations a sub-group of the Committee initially developed a list of 10 items that the Committee then ranked for the top five with input and suggestions by the Society’s Executive Committee. For SMFM’s second set of recommendations, the sub-group of the Committee developed a list of 12 items that the Committee then ranked for the top five, again soliciting input and suggestions by the Society’s Executive Committee. For SMFM’s third set of five recommendations, the sub-group of the Publications Committee developed a list of 10 items that the Committee ranked for the top five, again soliciting input and suggestions by the Society’s Executive Committee. The final lists have been reviewed and approved by the Society’s Document Review Committee and Executive Committee.
SMFM’s disclosure and conflict of interest policy can be found at www.smfm.org
Sources
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Genetics. Noninvasive prenatal testing for fetal aneuploidy. Committee Opinion No. 545. Obstet Gynecol. 2012 Dec;120(6):1532–4.
