Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3/Machado-Joseph disease (SCA3/MJD) is a progressive, currently untreatable and ultimately fatal ataxic disorder that belongs to the group of neurological disorders known as CAG-repeat or polyglutamine diseases. Here, we present the first prenatal diagnosis of SCA3/MJD in mainland China in a woman who was known to carry an expanded CAG-trinucleotide repeat in the MJD1 gene. After evaluating motivation and psychological tolerance of the couple, amniocentesis was performed after 14 weeks of gestation. Polymerase chain reactions followed by T-vector cloning and direct sequencing were employed to evaluate the CAG-repeat number of the fetal MJD1 gene. We identified a truncated CAG expansion of 78 repeats in the MJD1 gene of the fetus compared with 81 repeats in his mother. Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 / Machado-Joseph disease (SCA3 / MJD) is a progressive, currently untreatable and ultimately fatal ataxic disorder that belongs to the group of neurological disorders known as CAG-repeat or polyglutamine diseases. Here, we present the first prenatal diagnosis of SCA3 / MJD in mainland China in a woman who was known to carry an expanded CAG-trinucleotide repeat in the MJD1 gene. After evaluating motivation and psychological tolerance of the couple, amniocentesis was performed after 14 weeks of gestation. Polymerase chain reactions followed by T-vector cloning and direct sequencing of employed to evaluate the CAG-repeat number of the fetal MJD1 gene. We identified a truncated CAG expansion of 78 repeats in the MJD1 gene of the fetus compared with 81 repeats in his mother.