Expanded newborn screening program in Slovenia using tandem mass spectrometry and confirmatory next generation sequencing genetic testing
Article Category: Research Article
Published Online: Oct 18, 2020
Page range: 256 - 263
Received: Apr 17, 2020
Accepted: Sep 17, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2020-0032
Keywords
© 2020 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
In the last two decades, the introduction of tandem mass spectrometry in clinical laboratories has enabled simultaneous testing of numerous acylcarnitines and amino acids from dried blood spots for detecting many aminoacidopathies, organic acidurias and fatty acid oxidation disorders. The expanded newborn screening was introduced in Slovenia in September 2018. Seventeen metabolic diseases have been added to the pre-existing screening panel for congenital hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria, and the newborn screening program was substantially reorganized and upgraded.
Methods
Tandem mass spectrometry was used for the screening of dried blood spot samples. Next-generation sequencing was introduced for confirmatory testing. Existing heterogeneous hospital information systems were connected to the same laboratory information system to allow barcode identification of samples, creating reports, and providing information necessary for interpreting the results.
Results
In t he first y ear of t he expanded newborn screening a total of 15,064 samples w ere screened. Four patients were confirmed positive with additional testing.
Conclusions
An expanded newborn screening program was successfully implemented with the first patients diagnosed before severe clinical consequences.