Harmony prenatal test - anyone know about it

[RTchoke]

today I am having a new kind of prenatal test called Harmony. It's non-invasive and seems to just be a new kind of blood test plus the regular nuchal scan but it's much more accurate than the traditional nuchal blood test. Apparently it's nearly as accurate as a CVS but without any risk.

I'm the only person I know who is having this test and nobody else seems to have heard of it let alone have been offered it. I just wondered if others have and knowledge of it and how accurate it is.

Hi

I am 17 weeks pregnant is it still point to do harmony test, can I still do harmony test after 17th week,or it doesn't make any sense because is too late, I have test tomorrow...:(

Hi everyone

I've had the first part of the Harmony test yesterday. Have to say the service was very impersonal, it felt almost like being on a conveyor belt of people going through the place.

Don't get me wrong I want to have the test, so this outweighs it. I've never meet a nurse doing blood tests who was so un people friendly! She huffed and puffed as she couldn't get enough blood out of my first arm, so had to do the other one as well. And was not at all chatty.

Have to say the scan was hardly worth it as well, I have a fibroid which was blocking the view (I've had internal ones up to now), so the images were not very clear and certainly not good enough to get a print out.

Also to point out which wasn't clear to me before going, you get a result of either high risk (1:10000) or low risk....anything low risk they offer CVS free.

I thought for example 1:500 would be ok for my age, so was a bit shocked by this information.

I have two weeks now to wait for the result and in the between time will have my NHS scan.

Hi MrsJ78 - I had mine done at the FMC like most people on this thread, I just found it very impersonal and was quite surprised after reading all of the very positive reviews of the place on this forum.

Thanks for the further information re their ratings, they didn't explain that very clearly at the consultation.

I'm booked in for the harmony next week. Feeling a bit apprehensive with the last few reviews of the service at the FMC.

When I went nearly three years ago for DS (no Harmony then) they gave me a 1 in 34. But they were brilliant, and I didn't feel it was impersonal at all. They answered all my questions, no matter how bizarre or technical. I even got to meet the professor who was every bit as eccentric as I'd been promised.. encouraging me to throw tissues across the room and hit the bins and so on! But very reassuring when it came to important matters too. He said he was sure my baby did not have T21 from the scan despite the high odds but obviously only an amnio would tell us for sure.

I chose to wait it out as even in the hands of the FMC, I knew I couldn't live with myself if anything happened and we wouldn't terminate for T21. Longest wait of my life, but as the professor thought, he has typical chromosomes. I actually got a "late" amnio done at 32 weeks which gives the same risk of preterm labour as of a loss earlier on, so it is pretty much safe at that stage. I didn't want delivery day overshadowed by studying DS's eyes, palms etc.

I was so pleased with the service I went back for the anatomy scan as well - far more in depth than the NHS one.

I posted a lot about my experiences at the time on this board, but under a different name! Had to namechange after MIL found out my name on here.. it began with "spark" in case anyone is wondering, and ended in "lies"

Nearly 8 weeks again now, and I am so, so, so relieved Harmony is available this time round after the stress of the last pregnancy. I would not wish that wait on my worst enemy. I'm scraping in with literally a day to spare for the special offer and will be down there in a few weeks. Hurray for maca powder causing me to ovulate a few days earlier than normal this cycle, saved us £400

Hopefully the service will be as good as last time, I guess I'll find out soon!

Maybe my viewpoint of the service was taunted by the excellent and very personal service I have received at my IVF clinic, where the staff were all warm and friendly and it felt as if they were personally involved in your journey.

The FMC did not feel like that to me at all.

I have has 3 different doctors there and they have all been fantastic.

Last appointment was for 20 week scan and the lovely doctor was not going to let us go until she had counted everything she possibly could. Little one would not open one hand so was asked to go to the loo a couple of times, prodded a lot and eventually hand opened and all 5 fingers were there.

Receptionists weren't the most chatty but the doctors deffo made up for it.

Hi,
I just heard from a friend, that she had another non-invasive test done called NIFTY, which is the exact same as the Harmony test. She had it done at a clinic called This is my and she was very satisfied with it. I was wondering if others have experience with the NIFTY test, since I am in week 11 and am considering the test. I actually think that this test was a little bit cheaper than the Harmony.

Hi I've been to the fmc this week for the Harmony test and was very happy with the service. Scan was as detailed as it could be at only 11 weeks, and the doctor was very happy to answer our questions. Now on the two week wait...

Just curious - obviously the trisomy result is the important one, but does the FMC tell you the sex as well from that? I haven't been able to find out definitively one way or the other - obviously Harmony supports it and some clinics provide it, but whether FMC requests that information too is another matter.

Hi

Just to say that I had the harmony test at 14 weeks at the FMC too, about 2 months ago. Sorry, this is my first ever MN post and I have been meaning to register for a while to say thank you to everyone on this post as it was the only way I found out about the test! When I did a general google search this thread was the only useful thing that came up and it was a massive help.

The test (plus scan looking for "soft markers") cost £500 but they did say it would have been free if I had gone at 11 weeks. But as I only went there following a 1:65 chance from the NHS following my 12 week scan then I wouldn't have thought about it beforehand anyway. The doctor I saw was fantastic, did a full scan and explained in detail how the test worked, and was clearly passionate about the research. I did suggest they advertise the test better and change their website so the harmony test is more prominent and its purpose clearer!

Luckily we got back the 10,000:1 result which was a huge relief.

The midwives I saw after the test (Lewisham Hospital) had all heard of the test and were all fans! They say they are just waiting for some enterprising (rich) person to set up a lab in the UK so the bloods don't have to be flown to LA and then maybe one day it will be on the NHS..

Anyway, despite the cost I would strongly recommend the FMC and the test - it will give you the most definite result possible without an invasive test.

henryscat01 - the nurse was a bit huffy with me too and also said she couldnt get enough blood. Maybe it was her technique rather than our blood vessels :)

CrispyFB - from what they told me I don't think they test for sex within the harmony test, it scans for downs, edwards and patau syndrome.

The very best of luck to you all waiting for your results. x

Thanks both of you!

Harmony does have the ability to test for the sex, it's just whether the requesting clinic asks for it or not. For all I know it may cost extra, so given I'm getting Harmony for "free" with my NT scan (just scraped in under 11 weeks at the end of this month!) I am not going to be ungrateful. I was just curious if they did!

When I went to the FMC with my last pregnancy for similar reasons to you OctonautsFan (1 in 65 on the NHS too!) for a better NT screen, they told me the sex correctly and it was just before 13 weeks. She gave it based on nub theory and even explained it to me (although I already knew!) but I was so pleased to finally have somebody doing a scan who not only knew about it, but really knew about it. I googled the sonographer's name afterwards and it turned out she'd written several books on first trimester ultrasound and quite a few research papers. Love the calibre of staff in that place!

That's amazing, it can probably test against all the chromosome pairs. Feel very lucky to live with 21st century medicine! Best wishes for your test.

I agree. I wish so much it had been around even three years ago as it would have saved 20 weeks of anguish and stress! On the plus side I learned an awful lot about this sort of thing, and also Down Syndrome. I wouldn't wish the long wait on anyone however, and I'm so grateful I can skip it, no matter what the NT screen result, this time round.

Thank you!!

Thanks to finding out about this test on this thread, I am going on Friday for initial scan + blood sample. Will be 10 + 4, mostly worried at this point that there will be no heartbeat. Did you mostly go to the clinic on your own? I am worried about how I will cope if there is bad news.

Crispy - we were hand holding together last time - I was bubandbump. Well am 12 weeks pregnant and had another high nuchal, immediate referral for diagnostic but will be booking the harmony test tomorrow morning as would never have the cvs again. Can't believe that we have to go through this again though.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your great posts on this subject! I'm 37 years old, in my 13th week of pregnancy and partway through traditional screening (I've had my NT and first blood test, but not the second blood test yet) but I've just learned about the Harmony test and am wondering if I should do it. I live in Canada, not the UK, but the situation is similar in that the cost is very high (roughly 600 pounds). My NT showed a low risk (1:1560; the result was 1.7 mm and the nasal bone was present) but I know that the NT is only 80% accurate. Am I being paranoid?! Once I have the second blood test results (in about 2 to 2.5 week), the results will be 90% accurate. My OB said it was entirely up to me whether to do Harmony or not but the physician who gave me my NT results (different physician) said that I should only do it if I had lots of money to waste (!).

It was difficult for us to get pregnant (IVF) and I really want to be sure that everything goes well, so I could just spend the money (it's quite a large sum, though!) but I have also read that Harmony has not been tested in women with low-risk pregnancies. Various medical groups, like the ACOG, only recommends it in high-risk pregnancies. My age would make me high-risk but my initial results make me low-risk... Any thoughts?

5am - Wow, we meet again!! I remember your story, and the amazing outcome.. after all usually 1 in 2 is nearly always bad news. I'm so sorry you have to go through all this again but thank goodness for Harmony. I replied over on your other thread.. I am hoping very much that you just naturally have high nuchals. I think with mine in the end I assumed that the high bHCG I have naturally even early on probably contributed to my screen positive.. (the FMC said it was quite likely) - perhaps sometimes people are biologically going to screen positive even though their risk is no different to anyone else's.

FraterculaArctica - I've always been to the clinic on my own, not through choice, but childcare issues usually. There are lots of women there with their partners (it is hard not to feel jealous!) Just realised your appointment is today - I hope very much all is well! Mine is next Friday.

MapleLeafy - I'd imagine the results would come out the same whether you were high risk or low risk.. perhaps the research suggests there is only really a (financial) benefit to doing it in high risk pregnancies as low risk ones, the odds make it not worth it? I think it would otherwise work the same after all - the Harmony test does not know if you screened positive with the NT screening.

I'd recommend you wait until your blood test results. For instance, the NT fold with DS was perfect, but my blood test results were absolutely dreadful which is why I had a 1 in 34.

Crispy - thank you for asking! My DP did come in the end and we were relieved to find all looks fine at this stage, saw a 10 + 1 fetus (3 days 'younger' than by LMP) with heartbeat! I am sure I will start worrying again in 2 weeks' time before the Harmony results but it was so good to see that! Hope all goes well with your scan next week.

A question for anyone who's got to that stage - did you have the NHS nuchal scan as well? Mine is scheduled for the day after my 12-week FMC scan, it seems a bit pointless to do both. I asked the doctor today about this, she said it was better not to have the NHS scan as it could give 'different results' and worry you - but is it better to go through the NHS 'process' anyway so they can record things?

So glad that all looked good! I'm looking forward to seeing baby again because I haven't seen it since 7+1.. although I have been listening on the doppler every day since 8 weeks and it is getting clearer and easy to find so I assume all is going well! I'll be 10+1 on Friday when I go.

I'm wondering what to do about my NHS NT scan too. If it is ever scheduled - I saw my doctor as they requested at 6-7 weeks and they referred me but I've had zero contact with any midwives, consultants, scanning places.. nothing. At this late stage it is now unlikely I will be able to sort childcare out in time as they won't be able to give me much notice, so I may just go with the FMC one, but like you I'm worried about it messing up the NHS system.

Hello Ladies,

I have been following this wonderfully informative thread and thought i would add my experience into the mix. I attended the Birth Company which i think shares the same building as the FMC on Harley Street to have my Harmony Test, following my NHS NT scan and blood tests. It cost me £600 (plus train fare etc), and I was very happy with the level of service. I got my NHS combined scan results back as low risk after i'd had the Harmony Test, but we had decided we wanted to do this additional test just for peace of mind.

On the day, before the blood test, the very lovely sonographer did a detailed scan (I was about 13 weeks at the time) and I heard the heartbeat. The Birth Company also send you an iScan Baby link after where you can view you scan pictures and hear the heartbeat. I got my results back 10 days after the test (a consultant rang me from the clinic) and am relieved to say they were the low risk result of 1:10,000.

I also wanted to let you know that with the Birth Company, as part of the Harmony Test you can also choose to have them test in America for the gender of the baby (no extra cost and is 99.9% accurate!). We said yes to this so I found out what i'm having when i got the Harmony results! I'll be interested to see if my NHS 20 week scan confirms this.

Wishing you all happy and healthy pregnancies Xx

Hi Ladies

I got my results yesterday from the FMC and have to say the experience was so much nicer than my first time there.

The scan was amazing last about 20 minutes with the sonographer explaining what she was looking at all the time. And thankfully for me, the risk came back at 1:10000.

One thing which was interesting was that the sonographer simulated the NHS risk factor which was pretty much spot on with what the NHS told me at 1:1400.

Money well spent I think! And the best part, having a DVD to take home of the whole scan ;-)