The Mainichi Shimbun reports that several university hospitals and other research teams are considering expanding the number of test items for the new non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) from the current set of three, with the aim of starting as early as the end of this fiscal year. The expanded items are expected to include microdeletions.
The test is limited to pregnant women whose ultrasound scan shows multiple malformations, which suggests that Japan is getting closer to practices in foreign countries where all pregnant women can undergo NIPT.