ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To assess the performance of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) based on massive parallel sequencing. METHODS A total of 10 275 maternal blood samples were collected. Fetal chromosomal aneuploides were subjected to low coverage whole genome sequencing. Patients with high risks received further prenatal diagnosis. The outcome of all patients were followed up. RESULTS High-throughput sequencing detected 72 pregnancies with fetal autosomal chromosomal aneuploidy, including 57 cases of trisomy 21, 14 cases of trisomy 18, and 1 case of trisomy 13. The positive predictive value for trisomies 21 and 18 were 98.25% and 91.67%, respectively. Comparing its performance in intermediate or high risk pregnancies, advanced maternal age pregnancies and volunteering to test pregnancies, the positive predictive value were 100%, 95%, 90% and 50%, respectively. The follow up result was only 1 case of 21 trisomy false negative with high risk. For the 56 cases of trisomy 21, the high risk group accounted for 55%, advanced maternal age accounted for 29%, the intermediate risk referred to 14%, the volunteering to test group accounted for 2%. CONCLUSION The performance of NIPT for trisomies 21, 18 and 13 was satisfactory. The method can be used for women with advanced gestational age. NIPT has offered an ideal secondary screening method for those with an intermediate or high risk, and can reduce the rate of birth defects.