A prenatal diagnostic center's first-year experience with the California alpha-Fetoprotein Screening Program.
The University of California Davis Medical Center has offered secondary and tertiary care to pregnant patients with abnormal maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels since the start of the California alpha-Fetoprotein Screening Program in April 1986. In our first year of involvement with this method of prenatal screening, 452 patients were referred to our center for further evaluation and follow-up of either high or low maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels, as determined by the standard multiple of the median adjusted for maternal weight, race, and presence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. This article presents the first-year results of our clinical experience. Information is presented concerning medical complications, screening and diagnostic test results and their confirmation, clinical procedures performed, and postpartum follow-up reports. Findings of pregnancy outcomes associated with low and high alpha-fetoprotein levels are presented and discussed.
Cowan
L S
LS
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, Davis 95616.
Phelps-Sandall
B
B
Hanson
F W
FW
Peterson
A G
AG
Tennant
F R
FR
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000649:Amniocentesis; D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000032:analysis; D002140:California; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations / Q000175:diagnosis; D025063:Chromosome Disorders; D003954:Diagnostic Services; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007621:Karyotyping; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012307:Risk Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis*
D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins