Inconclusive NIPT

[Daffodil1983]

Been waiting 12 days for my NIPT results and had a call today to say the results were inconclusive due to not enough dna.

My anxiety is through the roof. I’m 42 and We had a TFMR for T21 in 2023 and have had 4 miscarriages in a row since then, hence having the NIPT test.

I’m 12+3 today but had the test done at 10+5. I’ve since read that sometimes that’s too early? I’ve also read that being in blood thinners (which I was daily up until 12 weeks) can sometimes affect the amount of DNA. My bmi is slightly raised too.

anyone experienced this and it been ok second time round? I’ve had 5 scans so far and all have been good with good growth. At the scan a few days ago my consultant said the heartbeat was fast and strong. My dating scan is on Saturday.

Trying hard not to spiral 😫😖

I had the NIPT for my second child at age 39 and it came back as ‘grey area’ and I had to do bloods again. I asked when I went for a retest what that meant and they said not enough DNA and that it didn’t indicate a problem. Second set of bloods were normal and I gave birth to a healthy baby.

Thank you for replying purtyburty. That makes me feel a bit better. Fingers crossed mine will be the same x

@Daffodil1983 maybe you can do the NT combined screening first and then if it comes back low risk, you don’t need to worry?

The combined screening is not hugely accurate so worth doing the NIPT again. You did it very early so you have a really good chance of getting a conclusive result this time.
Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy

I’d repeat the NIPT, an inconclusive result doesn’t mean bad news. But I’d also definitely do the NIPT, I had my baby at 41 and went straight for a (private) NIPT as I knew that the screening would show increased risk anyway due to my age and this would cause unnecessary worry. My NIPT showed that all was low risk, so when then my NHS midwife called me to tell me that my screening showed increased risk it didn’t worry me. Good luck!

Inconclusive for NIPT means they didn’t have enough DNA to do the test, it’s not related to the results at all.

It might have just been too early, so if you redo now you’ll get an accurate result.

Best of luck, the wait is awful!

I don’t think there’s any chance it will come back low risk. They told me my age, being diabetic and slightly overweight puts me at 1:55 before even doing the scan or bloods 😔

Thanks for the replies. The wait is agonising especially with what we have already been through.

I had it repeated yesterday. She said sometimes they prioritise redraws so praying the wait won’t be as long this time. Just so worried about losing our little boy to T21. We had all the tests and it was random so just got to have hope x

I lived in the US when pregnant with DS2 so NIPT is the standard pre natal testing and the obstetrician wouldn’t schedule it before 11+0 because there’s too high of a chance there won’t be enough of the baby’s DNA and it’ll come back inconclusive and need repeating. That’s what’s happened in your case- it was just done too early. It doesn’t mean anything either way with regard to the results. Just book a repeat ASAP and hopefully you’ll have good news soon.

Thank you. Makes me feel so much better. The hospital made out it was so rare for it to happen and it really made me worry something was wrong. Even when they redid them they said “well why on earth has it not worked that never happens”
wish they wouldn’t advertise it as being ok from 10 weeks because I definitely would have waited longer. I was 12+3 when they redid them so hopefully that will be ok x

My obstetrician told me that it’s incredibly common for them to be inconclusive at 10w, so I’m thinking they are protesting too much.

Sending you good vibes OP. I had the NIPT at 10+ 5. I too had read that being overweight or having it too early might mean not enough DNA is collected but in my case, they did get a result. Sadly, I too had a TFMR, but due to trisomy 13, patau. Wishing you all the best OP x

I’m sorry you had to go through that. I know how traumatic it is. After a TFMR and 4 miscarriages and being 42 I feel like this it our last shot 😔

You wouldn’t believe it. Had my second blood taken (after four attempts and finally getting it from my wrist) and yesterday I had a call to say the 1st analysis has failed on this second sample. Honestly cannot cope with this anxiety. Had the dating scan on Saturday at 12+6 and she said all
looked fine but can’t enjoy it or get excited without these results 😣
should I be worried now?

Hi@Daffodil1983I had the same, 2 x bloods taken for NIPT and 2 x not enough DNA results. I ended up having an amniocentesis as despite several very thorough scans looking good, I couldn’t get it out of my head. The results were normal and my cheeky 2 YO is snoring away next to me right now.

As you have factors that make it more likely that the fetal fraction is too low, I don’t think you have to worry at all about it meaning anything bad about the baby. It can just be a lack of information.

Thank you. That really helps. I guess I’m more worried because of my age (I’m 42) and previously having a T21 pregnancy.
i presume your amnio came back clear?

It did, and all the scans were fine, other than a 2 vessel cord. I was 38 at the time so slightly younger. As it happens I am the same age as you and trying again now, I’ll see how I feel but I really liked the certainty of the amniocentesis last time and (if im lucky enough to fall pregnant again) I’m wondering about paying for that and skipping all screening altogether. I can safely say that screening did not give me any piece of mind at all!

I'm sorry to hear that the 2nd blood test also failed. That must be very disheartening given your history. Are you considering amnio or CVS?

Oh OP! What a worrying time. I don’t have any advice as I don’t know anything about the tests but I’m wishing you all the best.

Thanks everyone. I have read a lot and it all says it’s a scientific/technical problem rather than signalling a problem but it just doesn’t help the waiting.

I’ve had a cvs before and an amnio with my T21 loss so I was really trying to avoid that unless I absolutely needed to as it will be incredibly triggering.

They’ve now referred me to fetal medicine in Bristol where they said I can either do the cvs although I may be too far along for that or they can do lots of monitoring scans and then do something if they are worried about a scan. But the trouble is my scan at 12 weeks with my T21 loss was also fine so I’ll find a “normal scan” hard to believe I think.

It’s just so so hard waiting. We haven’t told anyone about the pregnancy either which is also hard. X

It’s come back low risk. I don’t actually know what to do with myself. I can’t take it in 😭

What has come back low risk? I thought your 2nd NIPT was also inconclusive? I'm so glad its low risk though.

Congratulations! (I'm assuming this means that the second analysis of the second sample worked)

The second analysis of the sample worked and its come back as low risk for all trisomies 🥹