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To: E who wrote (3197)	9/19/1999 10:39:00 PM
From: Jacques Chitte	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6418

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. But to cinch the diagnosis of Down's syndrome, an amniocentesis has to be performed. As this is a skilled, painful and risky (it can induce a miscarriage or even make the mother deathly ill) procedure it isn't and shouldn't be routine. And amnio is typically done between weeks 18 and 22. There are less invasive procedures that can screen out a percentage of Down's children and other trisomies ... but they are inconclusive. A skilled ultrasound practitioner can spot the telltales in maybe 75% of Downers. The alpha-fetoprotein blood test is also suggestive but inconclusive. I don't know much about chorionic villus analysis except that it isn't as sure a thing as amnio. So the news that Junior has Down's won't come 'til month five. And that means it won't be 'til sometime after that that the mother (parents) must decide on and schedule a ... procedure. And making a choice during such a time of heartbreak requires considerable courage and toughness.