Standard prenatal screening examinations are used for Down syndrome test for fetuses.

Researchers have come up with a new method Roche blood DNA test to be far better than the prenatal screening examinations.

The DNA test is very accurate even in women with low risks.

Researchers say that the women who got positive result in the test need to go through additional diagnostic tests to confirm, as they are considering terminating their pregnancy.

Previous studies have shown that the DNA test is not only accurate to test Down’s syndrome but also for other two chromosomes abnormalities in high risk women aged 35 and above.

Dr. Mary Norton from the University of California said that the DNA test is very accurate to detect Down’s syndrome, but it is not able to detect everything.

Norton and her team tested nearly 15,000 women who are averagely aged at 30. They have compared the accuracy of the Roche’s harmony DNA test and the standard prenatal screening for Down’s syndrome in fetus.

They have found that the Roche DNA test has identified all the 38 Down syndrome cases where as the prenatal screening could identify 30 cases.

Professor Lyn Chitty of Great Ormond Street said, “These are really exciting times; this cell-free DNA is changing prenatal care dramatically.”

The study is published in New England Journal of Medicine.