To pay what to us is quite a lot of money, for private screening (harmony/serenity) when my quad screening was not even considered 'high risk' by the NHS?

[tiptopteepe]

My quad test result (pg too far along to measure nuchal fold) was 1:300.

The NHS is saying that that is a 'low risk' result however compared to my last pregnancy that seems very high. Its the same test I had with my last child and the result was 1:100,000

Has anyone had further testing for a risk of around 1:300 and was it worth it?
Its going to cost me nearly £400 pounds to have private testing and we dont really have a lot of money spare, altho we could just about scrape that together.

So I just wondered what peoples views were? Do you think i would be silly to spend that much money when the risk is classed as 'low'?

I had the harmony test with DD and with this pregnancy. I did both at fmc london before I had the NHS scan as i was 36 with DD and 39 now. I say its worth the reassurance.

Yes I did. No risk factors for us beforehand. If you want the screening, go for it.

Are you pregnant with quads?

Would the outcome make any difference to you?

Do you want to know to plan?

Not sure of the OP, sorry.

I was similar to you OP - a risk of 1 in 50,000 for the first pregnancy and a risk of 1 in 250 for the second. My 1 in 250 risk was classified as low risk (I think the cut off was 1 in 200) but it felt high to me. I had an amino (on the NHS) as I wanted extra reassurance. Baby was fine.

It's your money! Why would it be unreasonable? We were 1:5000 for Downs and STILL paid for it. The Harmony test came back as 1:25000. Money well spent as far as I'm concerned for peace of mind. It's a matter entirely for you but I doubt anyone will think you are unreasonable for choosing to spend your own money on it!

Good luck for the rest of your pregnancy btw

Check what the NICE guidelines say. You shouldn't have to pay privately. Is there another hospital you could move to nearby who would give you the test?

Surely if the op wants a reassurance test, she would have to go private, how would NICE guidelines help?

Diddlysquatter, quad test is the name of the test, not the number of babies.

It may be worth deciding in advance what you would do with any information from a test. If you would want a termination, then you should have the test soon. If not, then just let the pregnancy take its course.

I agree with pp above, depending on what you'll do with the information- if you'd consider abortion then absolutely pay and do it soon.

If you wouldn't, then personally I wouldn't waste your money - I think my test for my second came back similar and everything was okay.

We paid £600 for CVS with DC2 because it showed a risk of 1 in 40 (whereas DC1 was something like 1 in 160,000) so it was quite a shock for there to be such a huge difference.

We also knew we what we would do if the results came back to say there was a problem.

We had the test Friday evening, results Monday morning. All ok.

The hospital wouldn't offer CVS and also said we were too later for it (clearly we weren't). They only offered Amnio which there was a 3 week wait for. It was already stressful enough.

Worth the money for us.

I felt a bit like you OP so I had the harmony straight out and even didn't have the other test. It's your money so spend it how you like, YANBU.

I personally think the risk level is a bit arbitrary when it comes to this test. If you are 1/200 they say it's bad. If it's 1/250 they say it's fine, don't worry. I know they have to draw the line somewhere but those numbers are hardly different! In 1000 women, it means 5 will be diagnosed in the first group and 4 in the second.

Which hospital are you with? I was one in 290 and was offered a harmony test on the nhs. This was at Kings college hospital and only a couple of weeks ago. I think because it is a research hospital they are pretty liberal with the harmony tests though so other trusts may differ?

And understand how you feel as my risk was massively increased compared to when I was pregnant with ds 6 yrs ago.

I had the harmony test twice with no risk factors. Well worth the money. There was nothing wrong but at least I knew. The tests offered by the NHS are inadequate and I wanted to be sure.

I've just posted in pregnancy with a similar question; risk factor 1:184. This is an interesting read and I think I'll be shopping around for harmony tests this afternoon.

I was so confused wondering how the he'll the nhs didn't class being preg with quads as high risk!

I guess you need to ask yourself if the results of the rest would make a huge difference to your decision.

Your risk is really really small.

It’s probbaly not necessary.

However, I was classed as high risk 1:125 I think. Getting that phone call was horrible. I didn’t want the amnio so it was a no brainer for us. We paid for the Harmony.

And if I ever were to get pregnant again (I won’t lol) we would get it without even knowing our risk.

If you can afford it, go for it. You will most likely find results are ok but it will put your mind at rest

We cancelled the harmony the first time around because the NHS test was 1 in 59000. Had it this time because I'm 40 - it was low risk, luckily, but the NHS risk this time was about 1 in 1400 so a big difference!

I think it's worth every penny personally - we got a package where we had an early viability scan, then the tests and a really detailed 12 week scan (they even checked things like the blood vessels leading to the bladder) which was much more like a 20 week scan. We also found out the sex (this is optional of course, but interesting as it's a DNA test rather than just a scan!).

We had it done at the foetal medical centre, which I like because the profits go to their research projects. If you're near London, they are highly recommended.

Lots of luck with whatever you choose.

Placemarking as I am interested in this.

Is quad not just part of the name of the tests as it has 4 parts rather than she is pregnant with quads???

Hi OP. I had the quad test as due to positioning, they couldn't measure the nuchal fold. The result was 1:300 which indicated a far higher risk than my nuchal fold test in previous pregnancies. However, I was told by my midwife that the parameters of the test are different and that, for instance, you would never get a 1:20000 result from a quad test.

Harmony did not exist back then, totally up to you.

I had Harmony testing, no risk factors i just wanted the reassurance. In this case, again I would want the reassurance and would pay for it

Thanks for all the advice!!!
I have booked to have the Serenity test which is the same as the Harmony test but its all done in london so only takes 3-5 days to get results.

I dont know whether or not i would terminate if the child had anything wrong with it but it would be good to at least have that option available to consider so I have booked it for in a few days.

Im going to have it at a local clinic.

No I would not be entitled to any further testing for free on the NHS as their cut off point is 1:150.

Yes the test i had on the NHS was called the quad test which i had to have because my pregnancy was too far on to measure the nuchal fold. I have been reading up about this and it does seem that a lot of women get high risk results from this test as it is the least accurate of all the tests you can have.

So im deffo having this Serenity test to put my mind at rest.

Thanks everyone x

oh and yes quad is the name of the test I had not how many children im carrying!!! I am only carrying one baby.

I went straight for harmony with DS3.

In theory I was probably relatively low risk as I was 30 but I knew that I would have a termination if there was a problem. I wanted to know for sure as much as possible.

It was worth the £500 pounds to us, even tho it was a real chunk of money we could have done with as a third child meant we needed to get a bigger car and move house.