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Contamination Testing

Clinical Features

When recovering chorionic villi or amniotic fluid, there is always a possibility that maternal cells are mixed with the fetal tissue. This is why we carry out so-called contamination testing. This enables us to clarify if, and to what extent, the fetal tissue sample is contaminated by maternal cells. In the case of contamination, it can then be determined if the maternal cells have distorted the results of the prenatal test. Absence of or very little contamination ensures a reliable assessment of prenatal test results.

Prenatal chromosome analysis normally does not require contamination testing. Nevertheless, in special cases, such as the direct preparation of chorionic villi or prental FISH tests, contamination testing can be helpful in the interpretation and assessment of mosaic constellations. If a normal female karyotype is found while testing abort tissue, contamination testing may also be required in order to exclude analysis of maternal tissue for reasons of fetal cell death.

Diagnostic