The páper deals with the development and the current status of prenatal diagnosis of birth defects in the čzech Republic. Prenatal diagnostics in the čzech Republic has undergone both quantitative and qualitati-ve progress in recent years. The number of prenatally diagnosed birth defects has gone up, the spectrum of available prenatal diagnostic methods is changing and prenatal diagnostic efficiency is steadily increasing. Epidemiological and demographic analysis, to follow the quality of prenatal diagnosis services, provides a logical feedback to departments offering this kind of diagnostic health care and thus contributes to a health care quality improvement.

        Key words: birth defect, prenatal diagnostics, amniocentesis, chorion villi sampling, Down syndrome.