Single nucleotide polymorphism microarray in prenatal diagnosis of fetuses with absent nasal bone

Abstract

To assess the clinical application of single nucleotide polymorphism microarray (SNP array) in prenatal genetic diagnosis for fetuses with absent nasal bone. Seventy four fetuses with absent nasal bone detected by prenatal ultrasound scanning were recruited from Women's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine during June 2015 and October 2018. The chromosome karyotypes analysis and SNP array were performed. The correlation between absent fetal nasal bone and chromosome copy number variants was analyzed. Among 74 fetuses, 19 were detected to have chromosomal abnormalities, including 16 cases of trisomy-21, 1 case of trisomy-18 and two cases of micro-deletion/duplication. Among 46 cases with isolated absence of nasal bone, 3 had trisomy-21, and 1 had a micro-duplication. Absence of nasal bone in association with nuchal translucency thickening had a higher rate of abnormal karyotypes compared with isolated absence of nasal bone (χ2=32.27,P<0.01). Fetuses with absent nasal bone and nuchal translucency thickening are likely to have chromosome abnormalities, and SNP array testing is recommended to exclude the chromosome abnormalities.