What is being done to monitor outcomes of prenatal screening and diagnosis programs?
All prenatal diagnosis programs in Canada have built-in quality control activities. Embryofetal pathology assessment is done on all aborted fetuses with parental consent. Morbidity and mortality reviews assess the performance of prenatal screening programs. The limitation of these programs is that they rely on the delivering physicians and specialists to report back to the prenatal programs regarding the outcome of term infants. No mechanism is currently in place for verifying the outcome of pregnancies with normal prenatal screening tests. Collaboration among prenatal genetics, prenatal obstetrics and other related services would allow for better monitoring of the effects of prenatal screening and diagnosis programs. At the national level, the Canadian Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System (CCASS) monitors the birth prevalence of congenital anomalies in live births and stillbirths, using hospitalization data and data from the Alberta Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System (ACASS)
