While up to a quarter of pregnant women experience miscarriages, it's rare for patients to learn the reason why.
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — While up to a quarter of pregnant women experience miscarriages, it's rare for patients to learn the reason why.
According to doctors, chromosomal abnormalities are the most common cause, however, those genetic tests can be expensive.
But advances in rapid genetic testing may change that.
By combining several new technologies, Dr. Zev Williams, director of the Columbia University Fertility Center in New York, has developed what he says is a faster, cheaper method to test fetal tissue for genetic abnormalities, TODAY reported.
The new method takes about four hours and costs less than $200.
“Pregnancy loss has really been, from a patient’s point of view, incredibly devastating to be going through, but from a medical and scientific point of view, a black box,” Williams told TODAY. “We’re starting to chip away at that.”
The device used looks like a mini stapler, has been commercially available since 2015 and is used in a number of ways including the coronavirus epidemic, according to TODAY.
The test extracts DNA from a tissue sample and can reveal chromosomal abnormalities and hopefully give couples the answers they seek.
Williams and his team have submitted data from testing trials to the New York state Department of Health for approval. He also has a patent on the method of preparing and testing samples and hopes to work with a commercial partner to offer it to doctors across the country. Until then, he's working to further lower the cost, TODAY reported.
“The driving force is much more the ability to help and give answers,” he said.
To see learn more about the device, watch the player below:
