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What is an amniocentesis?

4,737 views · Published 21 June 2011 · 1:35 · Indexed 30 September 2026

Channel: IntermountainParents · 2011 · Education

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An amniocentesis is a procedure where a needle is inserted into the mom's womb and fluid is obtained from the baby. There are several times that an amniocentesis is appropriate. An amniocentesis is used for genetic evaluation to look for chromosome problems. The most common chromosome problem that's evaluated and picked up with an amniocentesis is trisomy 21 or down syndrome. 

The problem is that there complications that can occur with an amniocentesis. If the complication occurs when the genetic screen is done at 18 weeks or 17 weeks unfortunately the pregnancy is lost. In this day and age while it's unfortunate there are normal pregnancies that are lost in the attempt to find down syndrome or trisomy 21. 

The other time that amniocentesis is commonly used is if we feel a mom probably should be delivered but we're not 100% sure, she's not quite due but she is close and we want to determine whether or not the baby's lungs are ready. This amniocentesis is a lot less of a risk because if something does happen we can just deliver the mom. Amniocentesis are currently all done with ultrasound guidance so the procedure is getting safer. But it is an invasive procedure it does require putting a needle into mom's tummy and getting fluid from around the baby.

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