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Antenatal tests

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Harmony prenatal test - anyone know about it

830 replies

RTchoke · 29/10/2012 05:41

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.

OP posts:
Roseandmabelshouse · 04/03/2014 19:39

I think they expect you to be bang on with your dates and failing that to have paid for a dating scan prior to ensure you are 10 weeks

Caterinas2014 · 05/03/2014 07:44

Hello everybody!
I'm playing the waiting game. The next appointment in FMC is on Thursday 13th of March.
Could I possibly request them to send the results by email? At least 1 day before so I could check the results alone at home?
How do they show the results? Do they give you an envelope or the consultant tells you good news or bad news himself?
Thanks

gunwalloe · 05/03/2014 11:33

Due to my experience I would suggest if your trying to get the early package at the fmc go when you think your 10+6 and you stand the best chance of being there at the right time.

caterinas2014 good luck on your results! ive not got to the results stage so cant tell you my experience but I have read on other boards that they have phoned people before with good and bad results from 8 days after perhaps ring them if your getting anxious to find out if your results are in after 8-10 days.

Roseandmabelshouse · 05/03/2014 11:46

I was just handed results on a piece of paper - no real explanation, just that they were ok. To be honest I was more worried about a mmc at that point though.

jessplussomeonenew · 05/03/2014 12:44

I got my Harmony results yesterday (all clear) after just 8 days - phonecall followed by email. However I'd already had the scan etc. With the 10 week package they may prefer to give you the results with or after your scan - but probably worth a call to check whether they can tell you earlier if you have a long wait for your appointment.

gunwalloe · 05/03/2014 19:42

congrats on the all clear jess did you get the test after a high risk nuchal?

jessplussomeonenew · 05/03/2014 20:09

Yes, NHS gave me 1/58 for Downs and 1/93 for Edwards/Patau, basically due to really low Papp-A. After the FMC scan they changed those to 1/549 and 1/53 (worrying that this went up!), so very glad to get the harmony results.

gunwalloe · 05/03/2014 20:25

wow you must be so relieved! Im worrying that my age (35) may give me a high risk nuchal so am having it just incase I know that anything in the low hundreds will scare me

jessplussomeonenew · 05/03/2014 21:24

Gun, I can't tell you how many times I've wished I'd done it that way round in the last week! Fx you get a good result.

bebemad · 06/03/2014 01:32

i got my harmony results 1:10,000 for all three. Still worried though. Are false negatives common? so scared I have a false negative

jessplussomeonenew · 06/03/2014 08:22

Bebemad, they happen but they're very rare - my results form had a box showing the false negative rate. Basically I think the false negative risk is captured as 1/10000, which is why they give the results that way. It's said to be a bit less accurate for T13 but I think that's mainly because that's so rare. The only way to be absolutely sure is to have an invasive test but your risk of miscarriage would be far higher than your risk of any of the trisomies. You could contact www.arc-uk.org who specialise in this sort of thing.

I suppose it depends what made you worried in the first place - if it was a high risk nt screening result, you've now had a much more reliable low risk result so that should make you less worried than before your original test.

There are no guarantees in this pregnancy lark, but so far, so good for both of us!

ohthegoats · 06/03/2014 14:18

Erk, I'm worrying about the timing now.

I'm going on 10+4, because I can only do weekends at the moment without telling work. It all varies a bit between 9+6 and 10+4 depending on cycle timings, and that's hard to judge. My coil had messed me about for 2 years - anything from 15 to 42 days! Once I'd had it out I had one full cycle before getting pregnant, which was back to my original (and previously consistent for years) 3 weeks 5 days cycle length.

jessplussomeonenew · 07/03/2014 07:57

I told my manager quite early so it wasn't a problem getting time off. They're required to keep it confidential. If you really don't you tell them, could you just say it's a medical appointment so you have a bit more flexibility on dates?

gunwalloe · 08/03/2014 12:28

How did you get on ohthegoats ?

ohthegoats · 08/03/2014 12:45

Gunwalloe, all good thanks. We're still in London, will give fmc details for info etc when I'm back on a pc.

Pj88 · 08/03/2014 14:00

My partner has a 1 in 443 result but the nuchal translucency is 2.1mm, which I thought was beyond the safe length (2mm) yet she has been told by the hospital she is low risk so is adamant she doesn't want the harmony test- I don't understand why. She's 39 so I am naturally more concerned than I would be if we were in our twenties. I'm confused by the results, can anyone shed some light please? It's our first pregnancy.

diege · 08/03/2014 14:14

'Safe' cut-off for nuchal is definitely not 2mm. I think it's usually cited as 3mm, though some trusts say 3.5 is ok too. Is the risk figure you've been given a combination of bloods and nuchal? I personally think you have been given excellent odds in light of your wife being 39, though it is so subjective I agree.

Pj88 · 08/03/2014 14:41

My partner has a 1 in 443 result but the nuchal translucency is 2.1mm, which I thought was beyond the safe length (2mm), and the free beta HCG mom is 2.72 - significantly above the safe cut off, yet she has been told by the hospital she is low risk so is adamant she doesn't want the harmony test- I don't understand why. She's 39 so I am naturally more concerned than I would be if we were in our twenties. I'm confused by the results, can anyone shed some light please? It's our first pregnancy.

Pj88 · 08/03/2014 15:43

Hi Siege, yes it is the combined test. I re-posted to add the fHCG because that's a high value, I gather. I think I'm right in saying above 2.5MoM for that is high.

Pj88 · 08/03/2014 15:43

Diege, sorry. Autocorrect!!

ohthegoats · 08/03/2014 16:52

OK, home now. I had my scan at the FMC, who were absolutely fine with taking bloods on Saturdays. I suppose from start to finish we were in there an hour. I'll give a complete run down of my experience just for anyone else who might be going there soon.

All a bit posh, but I still had the hospital wobbles (my knees go a bit) despite all the fancy art and squishy sofas, managed not to cry though so yay me.

Doctor was called Jeni, she was lovely. I told her I was nervous, so she got on with it straight away, I had the scanning thing on me within a minute of being in the room. I was jabbering away going on about having had lots of stomach cramps blah blah, but shut up pretty smartish when I saw the clear outline of a baby. She went straight to heartbeat, which was hammering away, and said 'ooh, congratulations..'. To which I mostly did the open mouthed thing.

She then spent ages getting all the pictures and measurements, explaining each one and pointing out all the different parts of the body, even if we couldn't see it clearly. She told me I was probably a few days ahead of where I thought I was, and put by due date sooner too. Even though it said that I didn't need a full bladder, she said I needed a fullER one for the last two things she needed. She mentioned dildocam, to which I said 'noooo, I'll have a massive drink'. While I drank, we filled in all the consent forms, she explained all the stuff (mostly for boyfriend's benefit), then we had another go with the final scan bits. All sorted this time, she printed us off 4 pictures with clear (fuzzy to anyone who didn't see them on the screen!) profiles of the face, and the whole body.

After that was done, we went to what would normally be there lab room on a week day, where she took the bloods too. She was quick and efficient, and chatted to me the whole time about everything she was doing and why she was doing it. She then showed me all the blood thingies with my name and DOB on them.

The scan time was probably 40 minutes in total, and I thought was pretty amazing (my first one ever). The pics were up on screen the whole time, we asked questions about them even when we were supposed to be sensibly filling in forms. I didn't feel rushed, she was very kind and smiley. Oh, she also made me feel less concerned about my age (40), saying 'oh no, that's perfectly fine... ', but then I suppose they probably see older mums (I don't mean older than 40, just older in general) all the time, since those are the people wanting Harmony scans.

If you can afford it and are dithering for other reasons, I would recommend it. I'm glad we've had an earlier than 12 week scan, I was turning into a basket case. I'm still a basket case now, but less of one. I suppose now the real worrying starts... erk, results.

Sorry, that's quite long.

gunwalloe · 08/03/2014 18:37

that's great ohthegoats im back there on Monday for my harmony test after last weeks failed go as I was pushed back a week. Did they say if they would phone with the results?

ohthegoats · 08/03/2014 18:55

I asked Jeni, and she said they'd do it all in 2 weeks, but 'sometimes happens earlier'. I'm going to assume I'll hear nothing for 2 weeks.

I apologise for the really long post, it's just what I wanted to read 4 weeks ago when I first started thinking about options.

gunwalloe · 08/03/2014 19:07

Long posts are good I'm guilty of being short and sweet with myn.
Are you going to find out the gender of the baby?

ohthegoats · 08/03/2014 19:33

No. If I was doing this on my own, I would. But boyfriend doesn't want to, and there is no way I'd be able to keep it secret. So.. not. I have strong girl feelings, and when I said that to him, he said 'it's a girl anyway' over me.