Key clinical point: Noninvasive prenatal fetal rhesus D (RHD) screening after 11 weeks of gestation offers high accuracy and reliability in routine clinical practice.
Major finding: Fetal RHD testing had a 100% sensitivity (95% CI 95.3%-100.0%) and a 100% specificity (95% CI 91.6%-100.0%), with the negative and positive predictive values being 100.0%. No false-negative or false-positive screening results were reported.
Study details: This was a single-center study wherein fetal RHD testing (real-time polymerase chain reaction targeting RHD exons 5 and 7) was performed using blood samples from 205 RHD-negative pregnant women at ≥11 weeks of gestation and test performance was evaluated using cord blood samples obtained from 62% (n = 127) of women.
Disclosures: The study was sponsored by the Scientific Fund of Hematology. The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
Source: Blomme S et al. Routine noninvasive prenatal screening for fetal Rh D in maternal plasma—A 2-year experience from a single center in Belgium. Transfusion. 2022 (Mar 30). Doi: 10.1111/trf.16868