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• An Overview of our Available Services
• Learn more about the following Prenatal Diagnosis of Northern California services:
• Genetic Counseling
• Screening Tests (First Trimester Screening, Expanded AFP, Ultrasound)
• Diagnostic Tests (CVS, Amniocentesis)

An Overview of our Available Services
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Prenatal Diagnosis of Northern California Medical Group, Inc. provides comprehensive counseling, screening, and diagnostic testing for pregnant women and their fetuses.  Our staff is committed to providing education and support for families to help them to learn more about the health of their unborn baby. 

Most women are referred to our office because their baby is at increased risk to have a birth defect.  Some reasons for which families are referred:

• the pregnant woman will be age 35 or older at the time the baby is due
• a woman has had a blood test or an ultrasound examination that indicates the pregnancy is at increased risk for complicatons and/or birth defects
• a woman or man has been exposed to an agent that may cause birth defects
• a person has a family history of a hereditary condition
• a couple has experienced three or more miscarriages
• a couple is related to each other by blood

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Genetic Counseling
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Genetic counseling is often the first step of an appointment at Prenatal Diagnosis of Northern California, Inc..  A genetic counselor reviews the pregnancy and family histories and discusses the results of any prior testing that has been performed.  The patient and her partner are then counseled about the available screening and/or diagnostic tests to evaluate the health of their baby.  The information provided is unique to each family. A genetic counselor, along with a physician, will explain the results of tests performed by Prenatal Diagnosis of Northern California to the patient and her family.  Genetic counseling costs approximately $150.00.

Screening Tests
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An Overview of Screening Tests

Many women are offered screening tests (first trimester screening and Expanded AFP) during their pregnancy to determine whether or not their baby is at increased risk to have a birth defect.  Screening tests are based on the principle that the fetus and the placenta make protein substances that find their way into the mother's blood.  Fetuses with certain birth defects, like spina bifida and Down syndrome, produce these substances in concentrations that are usually different from normal fetuses.  Measuring these proteins in the mother's blood, through a first or second trimester screening test, helps doctors determine which fetuses may have these birth defects.

Occassionally a mother of a normal fetus has concentrations of these proteins that are the same as a mother who has an affected fetus.  Therefore, a blood screening test, like first trimester screening or Expanded AFP, is only a screening test.  It is not diagnostic .  It determines only that the fetus is
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