The antenatal diagnosis of the sex of the fetus by the cytological determination of sex chromatin

: Forty women between 17 and 23 weeks' gestation were included in the study, whose interruption of pregnancy was performed by medical and social indications. The method of Aburel-Atanasov was used as in 10 ml of the removed amniotic fluid sex chromatin was examined cytologically on cellular smears. Staining and determination of sex chromatin was made by the method of Dokumov. The fetus of male sex, when there was no sex chromatin, but the sex was female, when it was present in various percentage of cells. The genuine sex of the fetus was determined after interruption of pregnancy. Coincidence of cytological and genuine sex of the fetus was found in 36 cases (92.31%), but the sex was determined not exactly in 3 cases (7.69%). There was no sufficient material for preparation of high-grade cytological smears in one case. 14 out of 40 fetuses were of female sex (with sex chromatin in 28.57% of cells on the average) and 25 of male sex. The significance and advantages of the method in comparison with other methods for determination of fetal sex at the same term of pregnancy are discussed.