Maternal contamination

**Maternal contamination**

Maternal contamination refers to the inadvertent inclusion of maternal cells or genetic material in a sample intended for analysis of the fetus or offspring. This phenomenon can occur during prenatal testing, such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, and may lead to inaccurate diagnostic results by mixing maternal DNA with fetal DNA. Understanding and identifying maternal contamination is critical for ensuring the accuracy of genetic tests and prenatal diagnostics, and for interpreting results correctly in clinical and research settings.