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Recent publications have indicated that the risk of fetal loss following amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling is lower than the figure widely quoted in pretest counseling. This review examines these publications and compares them with the original data on which the currently used risk figure is based. Of those studies using control figures and sample sizes >1000, none showed a statistical difference between miscarriage rates in test and control groups. The authors conclude that, since the publication of the original data, technology and expertise have improved to the extent that there is no longer a significant risk of procedure-related pregnancy loss (excluding early amniocentesis or early chorionic villus sampling) and that a change in pretest counseling is urgently needed.
Ogilvie et al. (Fri,) studied this question.