Harmony, Panorama or something else?

[geeup]

I thought this would be a very common thread topic but can't seem to find a recent thread discussing the pros and cons of the different types of screening, especially Harmony vs Panaroma. Could anyone tell me what the difference is to help me make a decision please? I'm 35. This pregnancy was naturally conceived albeit after three failed IVF cycles. Thank you very much.

Hi there I am currently awaiting results of panorama. I went to the birth company in London , who I highly recommend. The sonographer was friendly, professional and helpful. I didn't get the "hard sell" on anything . They offer harmony, panorama or SAFE which is processed in London . They are very happy for you to consider and make your mind up while you are there. I didn't feel rushed or pressured at all. For me, impatience (I had mine at 9+2) and accuracy made me choose panorama. I didn't opt for the microdeletions extra . I read the consent form and information on the micro deletions, and decided they were sufficiently rare not to bother .(even though I am 44. Because they aren't more likely with age, unlike Downs etc)

The birth company have a very useful NIPT comparison table on their website which might help your choice, wherever you actually have your test.
Kxx

The Fetal Medicine Centre is run by a world leading expert and they offer Harmony. That was enough to make my choice!

Thank you both - really helpful insights even though you both picked different ones!! I am very impatient too. Time has stopped in it's tracked since the day I got my bfp! Welcome any more comments if anyone else is lurking!

Harmony looks for trisomies 13, 18, 21 and I think the sex chromosome copy number disorders like kleinfelters.

Panorama does that and also looks for some of the more common microdeletionsyndrimrs such as diGeorge syndrome, prader willi, angelman, Cruz du chat and 1p36.

Both methods can tell you the sex of the baby. Both methods are roughly as accurate and have similar false positive/negative rates.

We had panorama with our first as that was the only thing available to us then. Just had a harmony done on the second as it was cheaper and is now available locally.

I’m a geneticist by training so feel free to ask any specific questions and I’ll do my best to answer

microdeletionsyndrimrs

Should read micro deletion syndromes

That's really interesting thanks. How long did your harmony results take to come back and where did you pick to do them @Anatidae ?

I had the NIPT test. Same as Harmony I think. Done at 10 weeks, results back in a week.

I’m not in the UK :) ours took about 8 working days to come back - we were told it could be up to 2 weeks from receipt of the samples

That's not bad is it considering?

Still keen for more opinions though so please do keep them coming.

No it’s not bad. Remember the samples need to be shipped, received, the DNA needs to be extracted and prepped, then the process itself plus analysis. It’s complex stuff (isn’t love to know how they pick out the foetal dna from the maternal but it’s proprietary..)

We’ve been lucky enough both times to have v low triple test results of 1:20,000 as well, but the nipt was something we both wanted to do. Of course it doesn’t mean everything is OK - there are many many other things it can’t pick up and other things can go wrong, but we felt it was beneficial and worth paying for.

I got back my panorama results on Wednesday evening , exactly a week after the blood was taken , so I was 10+2 when I got the results. For an impatient person I liked knowing so early and was very impressed - I thought they'd take longer to come back .
It feels very early to know the sex!! But I'm delighted to have had a low risk result.
Kx

That's fantastic. Do you mind me asking who you went with?

It was the birth company in London. What I liked was that they had a choice of 3 different NIPT .
Have you decided which one you want? How many weeks are you now?
Kxx

I'm only 5 weeks so very early but I'm a worrier so trying to plan ahead!! I'm leaning towards Harmony but I don't really know why!!

I think both harmony and panorama are very good and quite similar. It was the week earlier factor that swung it for me, and the slightly lower redraw rate. I just wanted the answer ASAP, in case of bad news, but I'm 9 years older than you so bad news was more likely. Xx

I'm also having the Panorama test on Monday at The Birthing Company on Harley Street. They are amazing! I will be 9+1 and want to know as much as I can before we get to the 12 weeks. By the time my NHS 12 week Scan arrives I want to feel more confident that this is all going to be ok.

I had the Harmony at the FMC in London and can’t speak highly enough about the whole experience - they were really excellent

I had the Panorama test at The Portland Hospital in London and the whole experience was great. Had the result in 8 days.
However, The Portland has recently stopped offering the test for the microdeletions part as they found it came back with too many false positives.

I’ve had Harmony before and was pleased. This time I can’t decide. Yes Panorama is a week earlier but it takes longer to get the results on average I think (Harmony processes in London now and we got ours back within a week). So I don’t know

Panorama was back in a week for me.

I got our call and the results back from our Panorama test yesterday, so they took 1 week and 3 days. We got a low risk result with a 99% accuracy, so fell like we hit another milestone yesterday. I would definitely recommend The Birth Company and this test. Xx

I went with Harmony testing - went to private clinic in Edinburgh. Very well handled - nurse explained process to me, took my blood, had me observe her putting the labels on my blood immediately afterwards and had me doublecheck info (weight age etc as affects result) on labels and then seal it in the envelope all in my presence. I didn’t ask for this must be standard procedure and made me feel it was professional. I was told it would be couriered to London that day and that their private GP would contact me with results within 13 days but that it was normally a bit quicker than that. She called me exactly a week later with the (good) results and the full paperwork with results received from them the next day. £500. I actually forgot I had had it done until I read this (baby is here now). Good luck

Really helpful comments. Thank you. Have decided upon the harmony test and having it in just over a week. Hope it's all very low risk and keeping everything crossed.

Completely irrelevant, but I thought those were baby name suggestions. I like harmony.....