- people who have CAH in their family history should be tested to see if a potential carrier. If a child is found affected with this disease, it can lead to potential genetic testing for other relatives of the family seeing if they are potential carriers.
- If both parents are potential carriers and the wife is pregnant, they have two options to seeing if their child is affected by CAH.
- Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) is a procedure that obtains fetal cells by sampling cells from the developing placenta. This is done with ultrasound guidance to see the physical structures of the patient and fetus.
Or
- Amniocentesis, This procedure requires that a thin needle is passed through the abdomen, under ultrasound guidance, into the fluid filled sac that surrounds the fetus. Both are offered at 10-12 weeks after last menstrual period.
- If a female fetus tests positive for CAH, then the mother can begin dexamethasone treatment. This treatment can help reduce masculinization of the female genitalia.
