Amniocentesis

Amniocentesis is a prenatal procedure that withdraws a small sample of amniotic fluid through a needle inserted into the uterus. The sample can be tested for fetal genetic conditions and other indicators.

Amniotic fluid: The liquid surrounding a fetus inside the amniotic sac during pregnancy. It is the material withdrawn and analyzed during the procedure.
Prenatal diagnosis: The identification of fetal conditions before birth using genetic, imaging, or other tests. Amniocentesis is an invasive method of prenatal diagnosis.
Chorionic villus sampling: A prenatal diagnostic procedure that samples placental tissue to test fetal chromosomes or genes. It can provide diagnostic results earlier in pregnancy than amniocentesis.
Fritz Fuchs: A German physician associated with early clinical use of amniocentesis in the mid-twentieth century. His work helped establish amniotic-fluid sampling as a clinical procedure.
Ultrasound: An imaging technique that uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of structures inside the body. It guides needle placement while showing the fetus and placenta.
Down syndrome: A genetic condition caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. Chromosome analysis of amniotic-fluid cells can diagnose this condition.
Noninvasive prenatal testing: A blood test that screens for selected fetal chromosome conditions using cell-free DNA. It avoids uterine needle sampling but is a screening test, not a definitive diagnosis.
Amniocentesis in Rh disease: The historical use of amniotic-fluid analysis to assess fetal effects of Rh blood-group incompatibility. Before widespread genetic testing, fluid analysis helped monitor pregnancies affected by Rh disease.
Amniocytes: Cells from the amniotic sac and fetus that are present in amniotic fluid. Cultured or directly analyzed amniocytes can reveal fetal chromosome and genetic information.
Spina bifida: A neural tube defect in which the spine and its coverings do not form completely. Testing amniotic fluid for alpha-fetoprotein can help detect open neural tube defects.

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