NIPT gestational age wrong on report

[ChOcto23]

Hi,

Posting here for traffic as cannot find a single other result for gestational age being wrong on an NIPT report!

I am 13w 6d and I received a 1/60 chance of Down syndrome from my NHS combined screening earlier this week. I am 33 so this is a high risk, and my scan looked okay (nuchal fold avg 1.1mm, she did take one measurement of it at 2.2mm but that’s still below the high risk nuchal number), and blood work wasn’t outwith normal averages (some were on the high or low end of these scales but midwife said within range), so this is very confusing where the high risk has even come from.

I had already done a private NIPT with Harmony and got those results today however now I am doubting the reliability of the report as there is a huge error in my gestational age.

Everything looked great on first glance, all trisomies low risk (less than 1/10,000), and the sex is as expected per scans we’ve had. My name is correct on there, as is my DOB and the collection date, however I was only 13w and 2d and the report states the gestational age as 26w and 1d. I am now deeply concerned these are not my results and feel even more stressed!

I was also booked for a CVS test today via NHS (they were happy to book me in for this without waiting for private NIPT results) but ended up not going ahead with it as placenta is behind baby and the risk was higher. Ironically the consultant said today that she would 100% trust NIPT results which gave us confidence to not do CVS and wait for the NIPT results!!

I have emailed the private clinic and advised them that the gestational age is wrong, and that I received a high risk screening via NHS so I want to be very certain these are my results. Awaiting response from them now.

I feel like I’m just getting more and more stressed as this week has gone on. Has anyone had an NIPT report with errors on it before? I am thinking I’ll contact my midwife on Monday and ask them to do the NIPT via NHS because of this error, and also tempted to get the private clinic to do it again but not sure I trust them at all now! Or do I just skip the blood work and request an amnio for next week once I am 15 weeks?

many thanks,
a very very anxious mum to be!

I'm not sure I can be of any help but didn't want to read and run (as I type you don't have any responses yet).

I would try to take a breath for now and just pause over the weekend. I know that will be hard (I had several bleeds early on in one of my pregnancies, on a Friday so I had to wait until Monday for a scan) but there is nothing you can do to change whether your baby has Down syndrome or not, you have emailed the clinic, nothing will probably happen until Monday anyway.

Try to remember that 1/60 is objectively still a very low risk - I understand that it's classed as high risk for your age group but from a statistical viewpoint is it a tiny chance. Very probably the baby does not have Down syndrome.

Did you speak with someone on the telephone who gave you the NHS screening results? Our trust always ring with high risk results, of you're low risk you just get a letter telling you so.

Personally I wouldn't rush into having an amnio done unless you have exhausted all other options. Wait and see if the clinic get back to you. Speak with your midwife on Monday. They will have dealt with this many times before, and for the vast majority of those cases everything will have been fine. All the best.

@ClementWeatherToday thank you for replying ❤️

Yes, the midwife for my hospital phoned me on Wednesday with the results, discussed the further options. I told her I was waiting on private NIPT results, she spoke to a consultant who then said they were happy to do CVS test for me before private NIPT results came in, and no point doing an NIPT through NHS as I’d already gotten it private.

I will try to relax over the weekend, I just feel so frustrated that I’ve paid for private NIPT and it’s got an error that has made me doubt the reliability of the NIPT scan when I’ve already had what is a high risk NHS screening. We only started telling people
this week after 12 week scan and it feels like we’re back in limbo!!

I hope the weekend has been OK. Did you hear back from the private clinic?

I would try to contact the midwife tomorrow and ask her to explain how the high risk result has been calculated, if you believe the nuchal fold measurements and blood work separately to be within normal limits.

Try to remember that even if the private clinic (low) results are incorrect and the NHS (high) results are correct it is still a very low chance that the baby has Down syndrome. One of my friends tested high risk through the combined screening with her first pregnancy but it turned out to be fine and the baby didn't have any syndromes.