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Antenatal tests

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Original poster

Can you have testing whatever your odds?

12 replies

FattyMcChubster · 27/07/2013 21:28

With the blood test and scan I know you get a result of the likeliness of baby having a chromosome abnormality.

Can you have further testing no matter what your odds are? What tests can you have if so?

Thanks.

OP posts:

Rockchick1984 · 28/07/2013 09:34

The further testing would be CVS or amniocentesis, both of which carry a risk of miscarriage so you would have to be willing to potentially miscarry a healthy baby. My hospital won't do further testing if your odds are over a certain percentage but presume that may vary between trusts.

SolomanDaisy · 28/07/2013 09:39

You could pay to have the Harmony test, which doesn't have the same risks as amino.

Rockchick1984 · 28/07/2013 10:05

Harmony still isn't 100% accurate Soloman I'd presumed that if the OP wanted testing no matter what her odds were that she would want 100% guarantee of the results.

Original poster

FattyMcChubster · 28/07/2013 10:18

Is Cvs or amnio 100%?

OP posts:

SuitedandBooted · 29/07/2013 20:40

Hi. CVS and amnio are 100% accurate for various chromosome abnormalities such as Downs, various trisomenes (sp!) etc. CVS is done early, at around 11 - 14 weeks, amnio is done later, at around 20 weeks. Disclaimer - this is all from memory! There is a lot of info available online.
I had to pay for both my CVS tests ( last was around £250 6 years ago). I would highly recommend the CVS test if you want true accuracy. There is a very low "risk" of miscarriage associated with it, but as the test is done at a time when the risk of miscarriage is high anyway, it's hard to say if a particular miscarriage could be caused by the test, or whether the pregnancy would have ended anyway . Both my babies were perfect, and born when I was 39 and 43!

VeryHappyMama · 29/07/2013 20:50

Amnio is done after 15 weeks. Probably best to talk to your midwife about the options available in your area and the risks involved with the tests.

DuelingFanjo · 29/07/2013 20:55

The risk of miscarriage is very small, you may decide it's not worth it but if you do decide to do it then do some research into the people carrying out the amino as some are better than others.

MyFabulousBoys · 29/07/2013 21:05

Choose your hospital carefully, phone around if necessary. I found a large teaching hospital that would give me a CVS without a nuchal result. I had a very traumatic, late one after surprisingly high odds post scan with DC1 and didn't want to go through that all uncertainty again. I was older so they were fine about it. It was a very different experience the second time - painless and not upsetting. Results came through much faster too. I think they probably would have done it whatever my age though as I had specific reasons and was aware of the risk.

All other hospitals said no, unless scan odds were very high, despite my advanced age!!

MrsDibble · 04/09/2013 21:48

I think that generally you have to pay for CVS or amnio (i.e. go private) unless your odds are worse than 1:150. The fetal medicine centre, where I went for the Harmony test, definitely do them and I've only heard good things about them, though mostly from mumsnet.

snapple21 · 04/09/2013 23:15

I had an amnio on nhs with odds of 1-330. At age 22 those odds didnt sit right with me. The 1-100 of miscarriage is based on old research, when you actually go through the procedure most hospitals quote 1-200, 0.5 percent chance of miscarriage in general. That's my experience anyway. The midwife at the time told me if any woman is unhappy with their result, for instance if it is borderline, and have a follow up and discussions, and still wants further testing, they would always consider it. As I said this is just my experience of my hospital though .

tb · 31/10/2013 20:11

I had amnio 3 times while pregnant with dd. The first 2 were done at a local hospital where they cocked it up, and the third at St Mary's in Manchester.

The young midwife told us that she would always have amnio as it gives a definite result. I had odds of 1 in 84 of Downs, but wanted to know. The midwife told me that she knew of someone of 26 who had a Downs baby, and the stats would have given high odds against it.

Btw, I couldn't recommend St Mary's more highly, and otoh, couldn't advise having test done at Macc more strongly. The registrar didn't turn up on the day, they had no record of the appt, the test was done in on the labour ward, they used anaesthetic - and it felt like being stabbed, and the monitor had an image that looked like the image on a vcr at the end of a tape. Total crap.

CrispyFB · 01/11/2013 09:30

Yes, the non-invasive tests aren't 100%. But they're so close to 100% that research doctors at the FMC accept the results just as if they were from amnio or CVS. It's looking at actual baby DNA, not hormonal markers like the NT screenings. I've never heard of anyone with a wrong result yet. It is an amazing and very recent invention and will save a lot of lives lost to invasive testing.

If 1 in 10,000 isn't a good enough result (that's what you get if you're low risk) then go for the invasive test. But be sure you feel you can live with your choice if you are unlucky enough to lose the baby as a result. It is really rare, but I've seen it happen enough times (unlike wrong results from Harmony etc which I've never seen) to not want to risk it myself. Make sure you research carefully the doctor and their amnio/CVS statistics and choose the very safest one you can.

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