Abstract

Objective The number of invasive procedures (chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis) for fetal testing is decreasing because of the availability of non‐invasive prenatal test (NIPT) leading to a centralisation of prenatal diagnostic services to accredited fetal medicine centres. A new survey was conducted 10 years after the previous one to update the current clinical practice among clinicians who regularly perform CVS. Method Consultants from 32 centres in the United Kingdom were invited to take part in an online survey evaluating: The total number of CVS procedures carried out in the unit in a typical week, the preferred route (transabdominal [TA] vs transcervical [TC]), technique (use of local anaesthetic [LA] and needle technique). Results Response rate was 96.9%; TA was the preferred route (96.8%) in all centres except one. Single‐needle technique is used exclusively in half the centres (51.6%). LA is used by most operators (90.3%) before the procedure. Three centres did not routinely use LA for CVS. Conclusions Operators across the United Kingdom almost exclusively use the TA route for CVS with single‐needle technique in 51.6% of cases. The use of LA prior to CVS is a very common practice in the United Kingdom.