A nationwide, federally funded study has found that testing a developing fetus' DNA through chromosomal microarray (CMA) provides more information about potential disorders than does the standard method of prenatal testing, which is to visually examine the chromosomes (karyotyping).

As a noninvasive method of determining the sex of a fetus, tests using cell-free fetal DNA obtained from the mother's blood after 7 weeks gestation performed well, while urine-based tests appear to be unreliable, according to this study.

While some parents choose to wait to find out their their baby’s sex, others are keen to know as soon as possible.

SAN CARLOS, Calif., April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Verinata Health, Inc., (Verinata) a privately-held company dedicated to maternal and fetal health, today announced the publication of study results using its proprietary prenatal test to accurately identify multiple fetal chromosomal abnormalities from maternal blood.

Researchers from Cyprus report that a simple blood test can predict whether a baby is likely to have Down Syndrome.