EARLY GENETIC AMNIOCENTESIS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO RESPIRATORY DIFFICULTIES IN PEDIATRIC-PATIENTS - A REPORT OF FINDINGS IN PATIENTS AND MATCHED CONTROLS 3-5 YEARS POSTPROCEDURE

This study evaluates the long-term pulmonary complications of 25 child ren from a prospective, matched-control, pilot study evaluating short- term complications of early (11-14 weeks' gestation) versus traditiona l (15 weeks' gestation and later) genetic amniocentesis. Five children in the early amniocentesis group were found to have various respirato ry difficulties, a morbidity rate comparable to that of paediatric pat ients in the general population. These data identify the need for larg er, multicentre trials.