Anyone know what a Nuchal fold scan entails?

[moozoboozo]

My next door neighbour is 9wks pg, and she miscarried a baby at 20 weeks back in March, which had been discovered to have been a Downs baby. (She had decided to keep the baby, but she miscarried anyway )

Her mw is on about a NF scan, and she's not sure what it is. I was never offed one, so I can't advise her.

She knows waht it is, but she's not sure what they are looking for.

Badly phrased, due to no sleep last night.

Like a normal scan, but they take the measurement of specific part of the neck. They work out the odds of downs based on the size of that, and work out your age risk, and you get a more accurate 1 in whatever chance. If it is high, then you then get offered amnio etc.

you have a nuchal fold scan at between 11 and 13 weeks. You usually have them privately. I am having one at my local hospital, it costs £100. They measure the fluid at the back of the baby's neck, and using that measurement in conjucntion with your age, give you a RISK of downs. So you may have a 1 in 20 risk taht yyour baby has downs, but that is all it is, a RISK. You can then decide whether to go on an have an amnio.

Thank you!!

They have offered her a scan on the NHS due to what happened in her previous pregnancy.

Nuchal fold scans do sometimes check for other trisomies (which are rarer, but also worse - often fatal for the baby, soon after birth).

And as others have said, it just gives a chance. If you get a high chance, they will suggest you have an amnio, which of course has some risks for the baby, and is unpleasant, from what I know.

If your neighbour would not abort for DS or similar, then a NF scan isn't worth bothering with. I believe the doctors will pressure her to have an amnio, if she gets a bad NF result, and if that comes up positive for anything, suggest an abortion.

(I had NF scans with both my pregnancies, but I think I would have had an amnio and an abortion, if the results were bad.)