To evaluate the diagnostic capabilities of PCR-flow Fluorescence Hybridization technology in prenatal genetic diagnosis of thalassemia.

8 005 cases of prenatal genetic diagnosis of thalassemia in Guangdong Women and Children Hospital from September 2017 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. All samples were diagnosed by traditional genetic methods include multiple Gap-PCR, PCR-RDB, MLPA and Sanger sequencing. Meanwhile, PCR-flow Fluorescence Hybridization technology was used as a verification platform for detecting common mutation sites of thalassemia. The results were analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic capabilities of PCR-flow Fluorescence Hybridization technology compared with traditional methods in prenatal genetic diagnosis of thalassemia.

By traditional methods, 1 939 cases (24.22%, 1 939/8 005) were normal and 6 066 cases (75.78%, 6 066/8 005) were diagnosed as thalassemia, including 4 513 cases of α-thalassemia, 1 475 cases of β-thalassemia, and 78 cases of αβ-thalassemia. By PCR-flow Fluorescence Hybridization technology, 7 845 samples were successfully diagnosed after initial interpretation by software. Compared with traditional methods, all the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 100%. The other 160 samples which failed in the initial interpretation can be successfully interpreted after review or manual interpretation.

There were no differences between the two methods on the detecting of common mutation sites of thalassemia.

Thalassemia; PCR-flow fluorescence hybridization; Liquid chip; Prenatal genetic diagnosis