Improved Echogenicity of the Catheter for Chorionic Villi Sampling

Abstract

In the short time since the first successful direct chromosome analyses of chorionic villous material obtained at 8–11 weeks of pregnancy were reported from Italy (Si-moni et al. 1983), this method of first trimester diagnosis has attracted increasing interest in many different countries (Holzgreve et al. 1984). Developed at University College Hospital in London, the aspiration technique under real-time ultrasound guidance (Ward et al. 1983) is used by most centers now, and by August 1984, the four largest programs in Milan, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia had performed a total of 1150 procedures with a loss rate of 3%.