[Amniocentesis and viral risk (hepatitis B, C virus and HIV)]

Abstract

Very few studies have properly addressed to the risk of fetal hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection through amniocentesis. For HBV, this risk is low. However, knowledge of the maternal hepatitis B e antigen status is valuable in the counselling of risks associated with amniocentesis. For HCV, the risk is not well known but cannot be excluded. For HIV, it seems rational to propose a viral test before amniocentesis for patients with contamination's risk and to postpone the sampling in cases with positive results in order to obtain an undetectable HIV-1 RNA viral load. For these reasons, it can be useful to analyse for each virus the benefit of amniocentesis and the risk of mother-to-infant transmission, and to inform the patient.