MOLECULAR CYTOGENETICS - AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF MODERN PRENATAL-DIAGNOSIS

Traditional cytogenetic studies with high-resolution banding technique s have been the mainstay of prenatal diagnosis for >20 years. However, this approach is limited by the resolution of light microscopy, and i t requires cultured cells, necessitating a significant delay in obtain ing chromosome studies. The advent of molecular cytogenetics, or fluor escence in situ hybridization, has added an adjunctive tool to overcom e both these limitations. During a 16-month period 35 prenatal diagnos is cases had molecular cytogenetic studies performed; 71% of the evalu ations were informative, We present five of these cases to illustrate the benefits oi this technique for clinical prenatal diagnosis.