Rapid prenatal diagnosis by QF-PCR: evaluation of 30,000 consecutive clinical samples and future applications.

Rapid prenatal diagnoses of major chromosome abnormalities can be performed on a large scale using highly polymorphic short tandem repeats (STRs) amplified by the quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR). The assay was introduced as a preliminary investigation to remove the anxiety of the parents waiting for the results by conventional cytogenetic analysis using amniotic fluid or chorionic cells. However, recent studies, on the basis of the analyses of several thousand samples, have shown that this rapid approach has a very high rate of success and could reduce the need for cytogenetic investigations. Its high efficiency, for example, allows early interruption of affected fetuses without the need of waiting for completion of fetal karyotype. The main advantages of the QF-PCR are its accuracy, speed, automation, and low cost that allows very large number of samples to be analyzed by few operators. Here, we report the results of using QF-PCR in a large series of consecutive clinical cases and discuss the possibility that, in a near future, it may even replace conventional cytogenetic analyses on selected samples.