A two-year experience of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) at an urban tertiary medical center in South Korea

Abstract

Objective: To report our experience of implementing non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in a tertiary urban academic medical center in South Korea.

Materials and methods: An observational retrospective study of singleton and twin pregnancies that underwent prenatal screening for fetal aneuploidy from July 2016 to April 2018 was conducted. Demographics of the study population electing NIPT versus those opting the integrated test were compared. We also assessed clinical significant factors influencing cfDNA fetal fraction in NIPT.

Results: Among the 817 women who underwent serum screening tests during the study period, 490 women (60.0%) chose the integrated test while 327 women (40.0%) chose NIPT. Compared to the integrated test group, women in the NIPT group were older (mean age 34.7 ± 3.7 vs. 32.6 ± 3.4; p-value < 0.01), multiparous (47.1% vs. 39.8%; p-value = 0.046), and had higher rate of previous abortion history (28.4% vs. 21.6%; p-value = 0.033). A significant decrease in the number of invasive diagnostic tests was observed since the adoption of NIPT. The screen negative and positive rates of the integrated test group for fetal aneuploidy were 95.3% and 4.7%, respectively while those of the NIPT group were 95.9% and 1.2%, respectively. The rate of inadequate cfDNA fetal fraction was 3.0%. Low fetal fraction was associated with higher maternal age, body weight and BMI.

Conclusions: The implementation of NIPT has significantly affected the practice pattern of prenatal aneuploidy screening by replacing the integrated test and decreasing invasive diagnostic tests.

Keywords: Integrated test; Maternal serum screening; Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT); South Korea; Tertiary medical center.