JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --
Beginning in October 2017, the 673d Medical Group Women’s Health Clinic replaced the Natera prenatal Panorama testing with LabCorps’ InformaSeq prenatal testing at the JBER hospital.
The new testing is an advanced, non-invasive, prenatal screening for T21, T18, and T13 chromosomal disorders using next-generation technology. The test is performed after a pregnancy has reached 10 weeks or more.
The decision to change from the Natera screening to LabCorps’ was primarily based on providing patients a streamlined, in-house option that not only makes care more affordable but also reduces the delay in patient care.
“This change means that we are now at the forefront of technology for our patients,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Dominique Brooks, noncommissioned officer in charge of shipping for the JBER hospital clinical laboratory. “Ultimately our goal is to reduce the delay in patient care and this change does that. Once the patient is screened and the test is ordered by the physicians, the patient can come directly to our hospital laboratory, and the same day the test kit gets sent directly to LabCorp.”
It is processed for shipping by a local LabCorp site in Alaska and shipped the same night to Seattle LabCorp facility where testing is completed in 2 to 4 days.
Once results are complete they are transmitted immediately to the Composite Health Care System, the military electronic health record, which means the physician and the patient now get the results within 48 to 72 hours. Before the change was made, the test kit was sent to a different laboratory in the Lower 48 and the results were mailed back to our facility, then scanned into the patient’s electronic health record, which resulted in a longer wait, Brooks said.
After a discussion of the risks, benefits, and alternatives of various methods of prenatal screening and diagnostic testing, physicians can offer the cell-free DNA screening, said Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Jonathan Stralka, 673d MDG Obstetrics and Gynecology Physician in the JBER hospital Women’s Health Clinic.
“The cell-free DNA testing can serve as a beneficial screening option for certain patient populations,”
Stralka said. “Through patient risk stratification, which is the process of separating patient populations into high-risk, low-risk, and rising-risk groups, testing can provide helpful information for physicians when counseling patients.”
Once it is determined that the testing is necessary and patients complete the needed prenatal genetic testing, physicians can rely on the streamlined and direct connection with the Department of Defense vetted LabCorp to get the needed results.
Not only do the results show if the patient’s pregnancy needs to be flagged for abnormalities, it also tests the baby’s DNA against the mothers DNA to find out the sex of the child, which can be really fun for parents who want to know, Brooks said.
For more information about LabCorps’ InformaSeq prenatal testing visit www.labcorp.com.
For further information on genetic testing in pregnancy at the JBER hospital please contact the Women’s Health Clinic at 580-5808.