A team of researchers led by CHU de Québec and Université Laval, has received CAN$10.5 million from Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Génome Québec and other partners to conduct a large-scale comparative effectiveness study on non-invasive prenatal screening techniques.
Dr. François Rousseau, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Université Laval and researcher at the CHU de Québec, and his team will examine current prenatal screening practices for chromosomal conditions, such as Down syndrome, among pregnant women in Canada in order to improve screening approaches and avoid unnecessary procedures.
The research project aims at independently comparing the performances of different such approaches that involve various combinations of the available tools for screening of chromosomal conditions, as well as to evaluate the cost-effectiveness, the ethical and social aspects of this new technology and to identify and adapt the best implementation tools for users in the health care system.