• Kristine Johnson, Joanne Kelley, Virginia Saxton, Susan P Walker, and Lisa Hui.
• University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2017 Apr 1; 57 (2): 152-156.

BackgroundIn recent years, the superior accuracy of maternal plasma cell-free DNA-based prenatal screening has resulted in >50% national decline in amniocenteses and chorionic villus sampling (CVS), creating new implications for specialist training.ObjectiveTo compare the annual figures on amniocenteses and CVS in a tertiary hospital with national population-based trends between 2012 and 2015.MethodsRetrospective study examining the amniocentesis and CVS procedures performed in a tertiary hospital between 2012 and 2015. Numbers of procedures, indications for testing, type of test and diagnostic results were analysed. Trends in the annual numbers of procedures were compared to national population-based data from Medicare Benefits Schedule database.ResultsThe annual numbers of diagnostic procedures in our tertiary centre fell from 267 to 215 over the study period, representing a 19.5% decline. This was significantly smaller than the corresponding national decline of 53.7% for the same period (P < 0.0001). In 2015, ultrasound abnormality (including nuchal translucency ≥ 3.5 mm) surpassed high-risk screening results as the most common indication for invasive testing. Thirty percent of procedures performed for an ultrasound abnormality occurred prior to 18 weeks gestation.ConclusionOur tertiary centre experienced a relatively smaller decline in prenatal diagnostic procedures compared with national figures, largely due to an increase in testing for ultrasound abnormalities. Our results demonstrate the increasing contribution of first trimester ultrasound in the detection of fetal abnormalities in the cell-free DNA era and the continued viability of specialist training in invasive procedures.© 2017 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

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