Impact of Second-Trimester Maternal Serum Screening on Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome and the use of Amniocentesis in the Taiwanese Population

Both the number of women undergoing amniocentesis and the number of detected cases of Down syndrome increased during these years. Amniocentesis in this population no longer led to a significant improvement in the detection rate of Down syndrome. In view of the effective use of amniocentesis as a diagnostic procedure for Down syndrome, efforts should be made to use more efficient prenatal screening programs and to reduce the number of unnecessary amniocenteses.