WUWM: How one physician couple’s difficult pregnancy inspired a medical breakthrough

When Aoy Tomita-Mitchell, PhD, an investigator at the Children’s Wisconsin Research Institute, and her husband, Michael Mitchell, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon in the Herma Heart Institute, faced a difficult decision with their pregnancy, it inspired a medical innovation. This new innovation, the Harmony Prenatal Test, utilized cell-free DNA to detect chromosomal abnormalities — like Down syndrome — with a higher degree of accuracy than traditional diagnostic tests.

Since the creation of the Harmony, the Mitchells have gone on to use cell-free DNA to help heart transplant patients. Where children with heart transplants used to undergo multiple expensive and invasive biopsies a year to test for organ rejection, they can now get more accurate detection with a simple blood draw.

Interview aired on WUWM Radio (89.7 FM). 

Children's Wisconsin Media Relations

The Herma Heart Institute at Children’s Wisconsin is one of the nation’s top pediatric heart programs and the largest in the state. We care for patients with congenital heart disease from before birth through adulthood, and we consistently report some of the best surgical outcomes for even the most complex types of heart disease.