IN-UTERO PATERNITY TESTING FOLLOWING ALLEGED SEXUAL ASSAULT - A COMPARISON OF DNA-BASED METHODS

Objective.-To compare DNA typing by both variable number of tandem rep eats (VNTR) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to determine t he utility of each for prenatal paternity testing following sexual ass ault. To consider ethical issues of limiting prenatal paternity studie s. Design.-Criterion standard. Setting.-Prenatal diagnostic clinic aft er determination of pregnancy following an alleged sexual assault. Sub jects.-Ten prenatal paternity cases accepted during a 5-year period. M ain Outcome Measure.-Inclusion or exclusion of paternity by consensual partner. Results.-In all cases DNA typing using the PCR-based method provided the same conclusion as that from VNTR-based data. High probab ilities of paternity were reported with both methods. Conclusions.-DNA typing with PCR using short tandem repeat loci provides a reliable me thod for quickly determining paternity in prenatal cases. The ethics o f providing paternity testing in the context of sexual assault is disc ussed. The issue of providing prenatal paternity testing in consensual relationships is considered.