Performance of QF-PCR in targeted prenatal aneuploidy diagnosis: Indian scenario ★

• QF-PCR, an alternative tool for rapid aneuploidy testing
• Well studied and validated in western countries but not in India
• We optimized and studied QF-PCR utility in prenatal targeted aneuploidy testing.
• Obtained 100% specificity & sensitivity and positive & negative prediction values
• QF-PCR can be used as standalone procedure for targeted rapid aneuploidy diagnosis.

ObjectiveAmong the rapid aneuploidy detection methods, QF-PCR has now become an alternative tool for prenatal aneuploidy diagnosis concomitant with karyotyping. This method has been validated in many of the western clinics but in India no study was conducted to assess its utility as standalone procedure. The study was designed to answer the question whether QF-PCR can be implemented as a standalone diagnostic method for rapid aneuploidy diagnosis in our present clinical setup?Materials and methodsStudy was conducted during March 2012 to August 2014 consisting of 270 prenatal samples that underwent for aneuploidy diagnosis. In addition to karyotyping, QF-PCR was also performed on these samples and the results were compared.ResultsOf 270 samples screened, 262 samples showed euploid genome (125 normal male and 137 normal female). Eight samples were consistent with aneuploidy — four trisomy 21 male sample, 2 trisomy 21 female sample, 1 trisomy 18 samples and 1 Klinefelter sample. The specificity, sensitivity, positive prediction value and negative prediction values were 100% while false positive rate and false negative rate were 0%.ConclusionOutcome of this study strongly suggests that QF-PCR can be used as standalone procedure for targeted rapid aneuploidy diagnosis.