There are many tests that women who decide to become pregnant and have a baby should do for a healthy pregnancy period and a healthy baby. Some of these tests are performed to check maternal health before pregnancy and to identify infections or diseases that may adversely affect both maternal and infant health.
Apart from these tests, there are also tests that can be applied in certain weeks after pregnancy and to determine some hereditary diseases and genetic disorders. With these tests, chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome can be detected. All the aforementioned tests are very critical for the mother and baby to have a healthy life both physically and psychologically.
What tests should expectant mothers have before pregnancy?
While examining the tests, it will be easier to examine the tests in two groups as pre-pregnancy and during pregnancy in order to understand the process. For this reason, let’s take a look at pre-pregnancy first. Most of the pre-pregnancy tests are about detecting possible diseases and infections that can be passed from mother to baby. In addition, some tests are applied to control the general health status of the mother during this period. This is important to prevent health problems that may occur during pregnancy.
Another critical issue is the tests applied to prospective mothers and fathers in this period for the detection of genetic disorders and hereditary diseases. These tests are critical for preventing diseases, some of which are fatal, and can be detected before the mother is pregnant.
Tests that women should have before pregnancy:
- Immunity test against rubella (Rubella)
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody test
- Gonorrhea (gonorrhea), chlamydia and syphilis (syphilis) tests
- Pap swab test (vaginal-cervical smear) and HPV test
- Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C screening
- Varicella Zoster virus scan
It is very important to do these tests before pregnancy, to prevent possible infectious diseases that can pass from mother to baby and to have a healthy pregnancy. Failure to do the tests can lead to undesirable results such as miscarriages, stillbirths and prematurity, intrauterine growth retardation.
In order to prevent diseases such as SMA, it is recommended that both women and men have genetic screening tests before pregnancy.
Have you heard of SMA disease, which has been on the agenda recently and can be fatal for babies? Well, did you know that SMA and many hereditary diseases like it can actually be detected before the woman is pregnant and there are steps that can be taken to avoid this situation?
Hereditary diseases cause the baby to be born with that disease in cases where the parents are carriers. However, when couples decide to have a baby, they can prevent possible risks with genetic screening tests. It is possible to detect dozens of diseases thanks to these tests, which can be done by men and women with a simple blood or saliva sample. When a carrier state for such diseases is detected, couples have the chance to have a healthy baby with special methods such as in vitro fertilization.
Some genetic differences such as Down syndrome and some diseases can only be detected during pregnancy.
We said that it is possible to detect some hereditary diseases and genetic disorders before conception. Unfortunately, this is not true for all diseases and genetic differences. For example, down syndrome can only be detected by tests performed while the baby is in the womb.
In order to detect such genetic differences, diseases and chromosomal disorders, different tests can be performed at different weeks of pregnancy. Within the scope of these tests, which are called genetic screening and diagnosis during pregnancy, findings related to many diseases can be detected by ultrasonography. In addition, important screening and diagnostic procedures are carried out with some tests applied after the 10th week of pregnancy.
- Double, triple and quadruple screening tests: These are screening tests for many diseases, especially Down syndrome. These tests are performed for screening purposes, not for diagnosis, and more detailed diagnostic tests are applied if possible risk situations are detected.
- Free fetal DNA test: This test is also accepted as a highly reliable screening test. In the cases mentioned above, if there are suspicions about diseases such as down syndrome, this test is applied.
In case of serious doubts in the tests mentioned above, more detailed tests for direct diagnosis are performed depending on the week of pregnancy. These;
- Chorionic villus biopsy (10-12 weeks)
- Amniocentesis (15-21 weeks),
- Cordocentesis (19-39 weeks)
With these diagnostic tests, if the baby has a serious hereditary disorder, genetic difference or disease, it is detected.
Resources;
prof. Dr. Onder Koc, Prof. Murat Yayla, Prof. Dr. Rukset Attar
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