A collaborative study of the segregation of inherited chromosome structural rearrangements in 1356 prenatal diagnoses.

A collaborative study involving 71 European prenatal diagnosis centres has collected 1356 observations on the karyotype of fetal cells in diagnoses performed in couples in which a parent had a balanced structural rearrangement. The segregations of the inherited chromosome structural rearrangement were analysed in relation to the types of rearrangement, to the sex of the carrier parent, the methods of ascertainment of the anomaly in the family, the chromosomes involved and the potential imbalance of the anomaly. Wide differences in the incidence of unbalanced fetuses were observed in relation to these criteria, and these results can be used in counselling parents with balanced rearrangements. Distortions in segregation of normal versus balanced karyotypes were observed in some types of anomalies.