Down's Syndrome Test

Pregnent women can now find out within hours whether their baby has Down's Syndrome instead of anxiously waiting for up to 2 days. The new technique, called flashFISH, was developed by a group of singapore and UK doctors, led by Assistant Profffessor Mahesh Choolani and Yong Loo Lin at the National University of Singapore.
Women are over 35, have more at risk of having a child with Down's Syndrome. Thenew test is an improved version of the existing Standart Fish (Fluorescent in situ hybridisation) where special dyes are used to examine chromosomes. Normal cell have 23 pairs of chromosomes, an abnormal foetus is identified when there is an extra chromosome or one missing from a pair.

-Reader's Digest, november 2007-