No cystic fibrosis screening plan? Do it now. (Follow ACOG Guidelines).

VAIL, COLO. -- Obstetricians who have not yet implemented a cystic fibrosis screening program in their practice in accord with recent guidelines should do so immediately, Dr. Ronald S. Gibbs warned at a conference on obstetrics and gynecology sponsored by the University of Colorado.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a guideline recommending cystic fibrosis screening last fall. "If you don't have the guidelines set up now, the first thing you should do when you get home is find out where your practice is and where your hospital is [with regard to screening]," said Dr. Gibbs, the E. Stewart Taylor Chair and professor of ob.gyn. at the university. If a patient who wasn't offered screening gives birth to an affected baby, "you are going to have yourself a pickle."

Considerable confusion exists regarding this complex change in practice. ACOG, in its comprehensive Preconception and Prenatal Carrier Screening for Cystic Fibrosis: Clinical and Laboratory Provider Guidelines, distinguishes between "offering" cystic fibrosis (CE) screening and "making it available."

The guidelines, along with an explanatory editorial by ACOG Secretary Dr. Michael T. Mennuti in the October issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology (98[4]:539-41, 2001), recommend that ACOG members "offer" screening to individuals at highest risk of this relatively common autosomal recessive disease: those with a family history of CE, reproductive partners of an individual who has CE, and couples in whom one or both members are white and who are seeking prenatal care or planning a pregnancy.

The document stresses that offering screening entails an educational component. Patients should be given written information about CF and its screening. They should also discuss the matter with their health care provider, who should document the patient's ...