Prenatal Diagnosis of Chronic Granulomatous Disease

Abstract

CHRONIC granulomatous disease of childhood is a disorder characterized by chronic recurrent infections beginning in the first year of life and resulting in death by the age of seven in one third of affected patients.¹ The disease results from a functional defect in polymorphonuclear leukocytes and monocytes, which ingest normally but fail to kill certain bacteria and fungi.² The metabolic defect is an inability to generate superoxide free radicals and related toxic oxygen species.^{3 , 4} There is a male-to-female case ratio of seven to one, reflecting the predominance of families with X-linked over autosomal recessive inheritance.The nitroblue tetrazolium slide test . . .