Health encyclopaedia

Health encyclopaedia - Alphabetical Topic List

How is it performed? of Amniocentesis

An area of the abdominal (tummy) wall is numbed with a local injection of anaesthetic. Ultrasound scanning then ensures that a needle can be passed safely through the walls of the abdomen and womb into the amniotic fluid in which the baby is floating.

A sample of fluid can now be sucked out with a syringe.

Because this fluid contains cells shed from the skin of the baby and various substances secreted by the baby, the samples obtained can be very important for diagnosis. Every cell from the baby contains a complete set of its DNA.

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