Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Improving the health care experiences of families given the prenatal diagnosis of Trisomy 18

Journal of Perinatology volume 28, page 719 (2008)Cite this article

We would like to commend the authors on excellent research and a well-written article touching on the apparent gap between the increasing effectiveness of antenatal screening1 in detecting birth defects and the parental satisfaction of the associated health care.2 We would like to contribute our own regional data and our views as to why this gap may exist. We feel it is important to present these data as they will become increasingly influenced by antenatal diagnosis and interruption of the pregnancy.

Our data of the outcomes of all fetuses and infants diagnosed with full Trisomy 18 in the state of Western Australia the period 1980 to 2005 (from the Western Australian Birth Defect Registry) are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1 Survival of fetuses and infants diagnosed with Trisomy 18 in Western Australia, 1980–2005
Full size table

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Jaques AM, Halliday JL, Francis I, Bonacquisto L, Forbes R, Cronin A et al. Follow up and evaluation of the Victorian first-trimester combined screening programme for Down syndrome and trisomy 18. BJOG 2007; 114 (7): 812–818.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Walker LV, Miller VJ, Dalton VK . The health care experiences of families given the prenatal diagnosis of Trisomy 18. J Perinatol 2008; 28: 12–19.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Morris JK SG, Savva GM . The risk of fetal loss following a prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 13 or trisomy 18. Am J Med Genet A 2008; 146A (7): 827–832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Niedrist D, Riegel M, Achermann J, Schinzel A . Survival with trisomy 18—data from Switzerland. Am J Med Genet A 2006; 140 (9): 952–959.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Imataka G, Nitta A, Suzumura H, Watanabe H, Yamanouchi H, Arisaka O . Survival of trisomy 18 cases in Japan. Genet Couns 2007; 18 (3): 303–308.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neonatal Paediatrics, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, Perth, Australia

    R Kohan

  2. Division of Population Sciences, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, West Perth, Australia

    C Bower

Authors
  1. R Kohan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C Bower
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R Kohan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kohan, R., Bower, C. Improving the health care experiences of families given the prenatal diagnosis of Trisomy 18. J Perinatol 28, 719 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2008.83

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2008.83

Search

Advanced search

Quick links