When a lady is pregnant the fetus inside her is surrounded by the amniotic fluid that is a substance just like water. The main purpose of this fluid like structure is to protect the fetus and provide information about the health of the baby before birth. This fluid comprises of the live fetal cells and other substances, such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP).
What Is Amniocentesis?
We can say that Amniocentesis is a kind of prenatal test with which the information about the baby to be born is gathered. In this procedure, the small amount of amniotic fluid is carefully removed from the sac surrounding the fetus for testing. A fine needle is inserted into the uterus through the abdomen, to take out the small portion of this fluid. Further, the samples of the fluid are sent to the laboratory for analysis. Once the fluids are taken out the doctors can undertake the different type of medical examination to check on the genetic risk and purpose for the test.What are the reasons for conducting Amniocentesis?
This is a severe procedure that can lead to complications in several cases. Thus there are particular reasons as mentioned below for which this procedure is conducted.
- Genetic testing- This test is conducted to for determining the certain genetic conditions like the Down syndrome.
- Fetal lung testing- as the name suggests this test is undertaken to check whether the fetal lung has matured enough for the birth or not.
- Diagnosis of fetal infection- This is the rarest reasons for conducting this test. It is done to detect the presence of infection and check the severity of anemia in babies who have Rh sensitization.
- Treatment- Sometimes the mother develops too much amniotic fluid during pregnancy (polyhydramnios) thus this test may be conducted to done to drain excess amniotic fluid from your uterus.
What are the risk factors associated with this procedure?
This is a severe procedure that is only performed when the result of this test is believed to have a significant impact on your decision of pregnancy. There are multiple complications associated with this condition. Hence, the decision of this test completely relies on the pregnant lady who can further discuss with her doctor. Here are some of the major risk factors associated with this condition-
- Leaking amniotic fluid- This is one of the rarest possibility in which the amniotic fluid leaks through the vagina after amniocentesis. This is rare because the in almost all cases amount of fluid lost is small. Also, the leakage stops within a few weeks and the pregnancy continues normally.
- Miscarriage- It is important to know that there exist the slight risks of miscarriage in this procedure. The volume of risk is higher if this procedure is done any time before the 15 weeks of pregnancy.
- Needle injury- During the procedure, a needle is inserted into the patient. There are chances that the baby might move an arm or leg into the path of the needle. Due to this, the serious needle injuries may occur to the baby however the possibility is very rare.
- Infection- In the rarest cases there are chances that because of this procedure the uterine infection may be triggered.
- Infection transmission- If the mother is suffering from any kind of infection like hepatitis C, toxoplasmosis or HIV/AIDS there is a possibility that during this procedure this infection is transferred to your baby during amniocentesis.
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