About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Results
By Mayo Clinic staffYour health care provider or a genetic counselor will help you understand your amniocentesis results.
For genetic amniocentesis, test results can reliably rule out or diagnose various genetic disorders, such as Down syndrome. Follow-up testing isn't usually necessary. Amniocentesis can't identify all birth defects, however.
If amniocentesis indicates that your baby has a chromosomal problem or a hereditary disorder that can't be treated, you may be faced with wrenching decisions — such as whether to continue the pregnancy. Seek support from your health care team and your loved ones during this difficult time.
For maturity amniocentesis, test results can reliably indicate a baby's lung maturity. If you need to deliver the baby early, this information offers reassurance that your baby is ready for birth.
- Ghidini, A. Amniocentesis: Technique and complications. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 18, 2010.
- Eddleman K, et al. Pregnancy loss rates after midtrimester amniocentesis. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2006;108:1067.
- Diagnosing birth defects. American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp164.cfm. Accessed Jan. 18, 2010.
- Cunningham FG, et al. Williams Obstetrics. 23rd edition. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2010. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=6021591. Accessed Feb. 8, 2010.
- Simpson JL, et al. Prenatal genetic diagnosis. In: Gabbe SG, et al. Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2007:1.
- Amniocentesis. March of Dimes. http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1164.asp. Accessed Feb. 10, 2010.
- Cystic fibrosis: Prenatal screening and diagnosis. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp171.cfm. Accessed Feb. 9, 2010.
- Gillen-Goldstein J, et al. Assessment of fetal lung maturity. www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 10, 2010.
- American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Invasive prenatal testing for aneuploidy. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 88. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2007;110:1459.
- Harms RW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Accessed Feb. 15, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on