Anyone just had blood test without the Nuchal test

[jammiecat]

We declined the combined test at our scan but as it twins now I have had time to think we really need to know if one or both have Downs. We're now too late for the nuchal test as our scan was so late so only option is blood test and then amnio. Has anyone just had the blood test and know how accurate it is on it's own? Or what results should we be looking for? Thanks

[CrispyFB]

You can't have the nuchal blood test this late either. I guess you could have the quad/AFP but I don't know much about that and whether it is valid with twins or not. Plus it is notorious for scaring the crap out of parents with its false high positive screening rate.

Unless you're talking about Harmony? In which case that should be okay. Pretty sure that supports twins, although it couldn't tell you which one or both as far as I know on the extremely rare off-chance it comes back positive. However given that Down Syndrome is usually visible on ultrasound it should be possible to tell which one/both or presumably you'd have an amnio to find out at that point.

[jammiecat]

The midwife has advised I can have a blood test at my 16 week appt but she didn't say what it was. Maybe it' the quad/AFP. I just wish we'd had the nuchal test but wasn't thinking straight.

[CrispyFB]

Yes, that'll be the quad/AFP. If that comes back positive then you might want to look into the Harmony option, although you will have to pay for it (costs vary from £400-£750 it seems) as the NHS don't yet cover it. They will cover an amnio, but with that comes the risk.

[jammiecat]

That's useful, thanks. I'll investigate the Harmony option. But if we can't afford it we'll just have to take the risk of the amnio.

[puddleduck16]

Our baby wasn't playing ball at the 12 week scan and they couldn't do the NT measurement. So our downs risk was measured totally on the 16 week blood test. But we're not having twins.