The diagnostic potential of maternal plasma in detecting fetal diseases by DNA test

Conventionally, DNA based investigations for fetal diseases are done by chorionic villous sampling and amniocentesis. Both are invasive techniques. Recently, molecular diagnosis has also been made possible in early pregnancy from maternal blood which is noninvasive and advantageous. Most of the researches have tried to identify the Y chromosome marker(s) to detect a male fetus and paternally inherited allele. This is currently helpful to detect a very few genetic disorders including Rh D status in Rh negative women in early pregnancy and preeclampsia a few weeks preceding the clinical onset. This is a potential area for prenatal diagnosis in future.