New test: can identify baby’s sex as early as 8 weeks’ gestation

Most of the time, when a pregnant woman has an ultrasound, she’ll be asked if she wants to know the baby’s sex. For families with genetic disorders that target a particular sex, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, this is vital information.

Currently, the earliest you can find out your baby’s sex is with chorionic villi sampling (CVS), which can be done between 10 and 13 weeks, or amniocentesis, which can be done around 15 to 18 weeks. Both of these tests are very accurate but do carry a risk of miscarriage because of the invasive nature. This new analysis uses the mother’s blood to identify the DNA of the fetus.

In clinical trial, the test was 98% effective in determining the fetus’ gender. You can read more about this test, which is still in development, in the article A New Analysis Method Can Determine The Sex Of The Baby From The Second Month Of Pregnancy.

~~~~~~

Technorati Tags: chronic pain blog,pain blog,determining the sex of a fetus