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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2004;291:170-171.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Chicago—A pregnant woman in her second trimester comes to the clinic for a prenatal visit, hoping to hear her physician say that everything looks fine. Anything less than confident enthusiasm from her obstetrician will keep her awake nights for the remainder of her pregnancy. But as was made clear during the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America last month, the precision of today's ultrasound imaging techniques often makes it difficult for physicians to provide such unqualified reassurance.

The use of certain features revealed by a prenatal ultrasound scan as potential markers of Down syndrome and other disorders is controversial because the markers also can be found in unaffected fetuses. (Photo credit: Rebecca Smith-Bindman, MD/UCSF)

Modern ultrasound allows physicians to see clear and detailed morphological features of the fetus. Scans can show many potential "abnormalities" or markers, such as a slightly short femur or . . . [Full Text of this Article]