Biopsia corial transcervical: guía práctica

Early screening for foetal aneuploidies in the first trimester has required the introduction of diagnostic procedures appropriate for this period of pregnancy. Chorionic villi sampling (CVS) is an invasive diagnostic procedure in Maternal-Foetal Medicine to obtain chorionic villi for cytogenetic, molecular or biochemical analysis. There are two routes for CVS, transcervical and transabdominal. Preference for one of two routes has been historically based on factors such as, placental location, parity, maternal weight, operator preferences, etc. Our institution switched to using the transcervical approach almost exclusively, with advantages for the patients and laboratory with no differences in the pregnancy loss rate and other complications. Despite 3 decades of CVS use, there is no consensus as regards its application, and practice guidelines are few. Taking advantage of our experience with a large amount of procedures, we propose this practice guideline.