ACMG Statements and Guidelines
These online statements and guidelines are definitive and may be cited using the digital object identifier (DOI). These recommendations are designed primarily as an educational resource for medical geneticists and other healthcare providers to help them provide quality medical genetics services; they should not be considered inclusive of all proper procedures and tests or exclusive of other procedures and tests that are reasonably directed to obtaining the same results. Please refer to the leading disclaimer in each document for more information.
Technical standards and guidelines: Prenatal screening for Down syndrome that includes first-trimester biochemistry and/or ultrasound measurements
This statement is intended to augment the current general ACMG Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories and to address guidelines specific to first-trimester screening for Down syndrome. The aim is to provide the laboratory the necessary information to ensure accurate and reliable Down syndrome screening results given a screening protocol (e.g., combined first trimester and integrated testing). Information about various test combinations and their expected performance are provided, but other issues such as availability of reagents, patient interest in early test results, access to open neural tube defect screening, and availability of chorionic villus sampling are all contextual factors in deciding which screening protocol(s) will be selected by individual health care providers.Technical standards and guidelines: Prenatal screening for open neural tube defects: This new section on “Prenatal Screening for Open Neural Tube Defects,” together with the new section on “Prenatal Screening for Down Syndrome,” replaces the previous Section H of the American College of Medical Genetics Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories
This specific technical standards and guidelines statement is intended to augment the current general American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories and to address validation guidelines specific to second trimester maternal serum screening. Individual laboratories are responsible for meeting the CLIA/CAP quality assurance standards with respect to appropriate sample documentation, assay validation, general proficiency, and quality control measures.Technical standards and guidelines: Prenatal screening for Down syndrome: This new section on “Prenatal Screening for Down Syndrome,” together with the new section on “Prenatal Screening for Open Neural Tube Defects,” replaces the previous Section H of the American College of Medical Genetics Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories
This statement is intended to augment the current general American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories and to address validation guidelines specific to second trimester maternal serum screening for Down syndrome. Individual laboratories are responsible for meeting the CLIA/CAP quality assurance standards with respect to appropriate sample documentation, assay validation, general proficiency, and quality control measures.Revised Sections F7.5 (Quantitative Amino Acid Analysis) and F7.6 (Qualitative Amino Acid Analysis): American College of Medical Genetics Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories, 2003
Determination of plasma amino acid levels has become a key piece of information in the diagnosis and clinical management of a group of metabolic genetic disorders. Appropriate laboratory methodologies have been published for amino acid analysis, yet there is a need for direction for the laboratory in performing this testing. The following guidelines were generated by a working group of the American College of Medical Genetics Laboratory Quality Assurance Committee. Based upon a body of knowledge and professional experience, these guidelines and standards are to be the benchmark for performance of amino acid analysis for clinical interpretation.Technical Standards and Guidelines for Fragile X: The First of a Series of Disease-Specific Supplements to the Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories of the American College of Medical Genetics
Preface: The Quality Assurance subcommittee of the ACMG Laboratory Practice committee has the mission of maintaining high technical standards for the performance and interpretation of genetic tests. In part, this is accomplished by the publication of the document “Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories,” which was published in its second edition in 1999 and is now maintained online (see http://www.faseb.org/genetics/acmg/index.html ). This subcommittee also reviews the outcome of national proficiency testing in the genetics area and may choose to focus on specific diseases or methodologies in response to those results.
