Futuristic Look at Genetic and Birth Defect Diagnoses and Treatments.

One aim of prenatal care is to provide information to prospective parents. The information provided encompasses prenatal care, intrapartum and postpartum care. Learning the genetic constitution of the parents pre-conception or the ongoing pregnancy allows parents to make decisions and set expectations. Offering screening and diagnostic testing has been the main in satisfying the desire for prenatal genetic information. With rapid advances in genomics and genome sequencing, screening during an ongoing pregnancy may become obsolete. Preconception risk will be determined by whole exome sequencing and chromosomal microarray of prospective parents and a number of approaches to alter pregnancy outcome can be considered when genome variations are identified. Therapeutic approaches include mitochondrial transfer and gene editing, two technologies that are in early stages, but showing promise as tools to alter outcomes.