New Cystic-Fibrosis Screening Test Helps Families Take Action

Westchester Medical Center, the flagship of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth), is the only hospital in the New York-metropolitan area to provide the fastest and most precise genetic testing available for cystic fibrosis, a chronic and often fatal disease that affects the respiratory and digestive systems of children and young adults.

More advanced than other screenings, the new cutting-edge test screens for 139 mutations that cause over 95 percent of cystic fibrosis cases.

Quicker and more definitive than standard screening, which identifies only 23 mutations, this test can diagnose children, including newborns, and screen prospective parents for genetic risks. Its 91 percent detection rate for at-risk couples allows earlier, more