By Chinyere Anyanwu
In affirmation of its commitment to maternal and child health and growing demand for access to high-quality healthcare in the country, EHA Clinics is announcing the launch of IONA® Care, a non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) service for pregnant women, which estimates the risk of a foetus having Down’s syndrome (T21), Edwards’ syndrome (T18) and Patau’s syndrome (T13) from as early as 10 weeks.
The IONA® test is an advanced screening carried out on a small blood sample taken from the mother’s arm with no risk of miscarriage. NIPT is an advanced screening process using DNA in the mother’s blood to estimate the risk of a foetus having Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome, and Patau’s syndrome.
Traditional screening offered during the first trimester of pregnancy is currently called the Combined Test. This is an ultrasound scan to measure the nuchal translucency (NT), combined with a blood test. This is less accurate than NIPT, detecting about 85 per cent of babies with Down’s syndrome.
The IONA® test, however, has a higher detection rate than the Combined Test. The test is also better able to exclude false positives. This is when the test reports the baby is at a high risk of having Down’s syndrome but is actually unaffected. The IONA® test is much better at ensuring the babies identified are truly at high risk to allow the doctor to only refer the mother for an invasive test when it is highly likely that the baby is affected by trisomy. This means fewer pregnant women will undergo unnecessary invasive follow-up procedures such as amniocentesis or CVS, which can be stressful, painful and may have a small risk of miscarriage.
In response to the launch, chief medical officer, EHA Clinics, Dr. Anthonia Hananiya, said, “As we have reiterated in the past, EHA Clinics focuses on providing technology-enabled primary and secondary healthcare services and programmes that target all segments of the population. As such, we are excited to launch this innovative top-of-the-line service offering. The IONA test provides a competitive high-quality offering due to the fast turnaround time, enabling some results to be turned around in as fast as eight to 10 days.
“We are also open to partnerships with leading healthcare service providers in the nation. This will address the growing demand for access to affordable, high-quality healthcare in the country.”
She further said, “During this launch period, EHA Clinics will run a series of webinars aimed at existing healthcare professionals on the IONA® Care test to educate them on the extended clinical offering, which can be presented to pregnant mothers. In addition, we will be inviting new customers to join our webinars to learn more about how IONA® Care can give a competitive service for clinics and healthcare providers looking to expand their NIPT offering.”