Synlab Global Diagnostic laboratory has obtained the first UNE-EN ISO 15189 standard accreditation to perform prenatal non-invasive tests on pregnant women. Simple maternal blood extractions enable early detection of frequent chromosomal abnormalities (aneuploidies): Edwards or Patau or Downs Syndromes, among others in the foetus.

Vicenzo Cirigliano, Synlab's Head of Molecular Genetics, explains about this foetus DNA study via the maternal blood: “There are DNA fragments from the foetus, in the form of free DNA, which allow us to assess the risk of this type of alterations with greater accuracy than the tests available so far (screening combined in the first quarter) ".

He also adds that "this test provides pregnant women with an early assessment, as well as reducing the number of unnecessary amniocentesis and the risk of foetal loss that other more invasive techniques may provoke".

The international ISO 15189 accreditation set up in 2014 which for Synlab "has meant process variability being reduced by standardization, and the best use of the available methods", according to Joan Ramón López, Director of Synlab Laboratory Organisation Iberia and Synlab Spain's Quality Manager.

It also ensures that "both the requirements established by the regulation and the accreditation process itself favour setting up and maintaining the continuous improvement of laboratory systems, concluding that the main beneficiary of "accredited laboratories is the patient, who receives the high-quality health care they demand”.

Accreditation is the international tool to give confidence to health professionals, meaning that the results they base their decisions on have been obtained in a laboratory with competent personnel, using technically controlled and valid methods and procedures carried out with skill and with the required equipment and facilities, thereby providing necessary advice on the choice of tests and the interpretation of the results, to develop clear, complete and exact reports.