Did you find the Nuchal Transparency Test useful?

[Mama2Peanut]

Hi there, I'm 9 weeks pregnant (at the age of 36) and am considering paying £200 for a NT Test. This gives a personalised probability as to whether my baby will or won't have Downs. I am considering this so that, if I am found to have a higher risk then that would give me time to prepare for the birth and subsequent baby care.

Has anyone else taken the test and if so, did you find it useful?

Thanks, xx

I got it free with my health authority and even if it wasn't free i would still have paid for it. So the answer is yes. Have it done. I'm 39 and my risk assessment figure was one in 1,922, which was alot higher than i anticipated. It put my mind at ease about the risk probabilities etc.

I have had the test (am now 32) which was offered free as part of health authority. Nt sure i would have gone private for it. It was helpful and reassuring tho. Having an older child it would have enabled us to prepare if there was going to be a problem. Also gave us a lovely chance to see pudding developing.

I think it is a person choice.. we decided to decline any testing for this because we wouldn't have acted on the results. I think you need to think about what course of action you would take and if you would do nothing then why worry yourself.. imagine how you would feel if you found out you were high risk? I didn't want that worry on top of everything else, but also even when you are high risk there is also the chance your baby will be perfectly normal.. difficult one but as I said at the beginning it has to be down to the individual.

I had the NT scan done in my second pregnancy as it was part of the dating scan.

However, I did decline the blood screening tests because I knew I wouldn't 'do' anything with the results ie have an amnio or a termination, so I didn't really see the point for me personally. If I got a high result then I would just have months of worry without knowing anything for definite. But of course it is a very personal decision which only you can make

I had it done free and coupled with blood tests made a decision to have amnios during both my pregnancies

HI Mama2Peanut

It's also worth noting in this instance though, that although a nucal translucency test can make the probability statistics (given as a ratio) more 'accurate' it doesn't actually give you any guarantees on it's own - it's only a soft marker not a definite indication.

And you don't need me to point out that you can have a ratio of 1:1687000 and be the '1' and have a 1:10 and be one of the 9...

Maybe it's worth considering if your 'background' factors - age, blood results and such give you a high background risk anyway - in which case a NT scan might reassure you... equally the opposite can be true, though, and it might end up worrying you for nothing.

Also consider what you'd get if you ended up with a low ratio - a 1:50 or something and whether in that instance you'd consider further, possibly invasive, testing (like CVS or amnio) which would be the only way of knowing for sure what you'd be likely to be dealing with.

In our case it was taken out of our hands, we had a scary (and as it turns out, inept) 12 week scan, which meant that we were given a pretty devastating probable diagnosis, and referred for a NT scan and a CVS ((all on the NHS) so this wasn't a decision we had to, or were able to make for ourselves.

As a result of our experience though, (thankfully at 34 weeks everything appears to be just fine with our LO) I'm not sure how I feel about the whole testing thing, and whether these 'ratios' actually help much.

You may be better off just sticking with the knowledge that the odds of a perfectly healthy baby are overwhelmingly in your favour (even if your background ratio was considered 'high risk' it would probably only be 1:250 or something) and enjoying the rest of your pregnancy...

If there was, heaven forbid, something seriously wrong, this would most likely be picked at your standard, free, 12 week dating scan... And if you don't think you'd terminate a baby with Down's syndrome anyway, as you seem to indicate, well - is there much point?

That's my two-pennth. So much information not always a good thing, perhaps?

DB
xx

Thank you all for your input and feeback. It really is useful to hear from others and how they approached this.

I'm inclined to not get the test since I wouldn't terminate the pregnancy - and I would only have considered amnio if it came back as a 1:5 risk. At that stage my reasons for amnio would be to help us prepare if it was positive.

But I think, particulary following you guys' feedback that I will probably let it lie and see what we're blessed with.

Thanks again
T

I had the test for free and researched it quite a bit at the time and decided that actually it's a bit of a waste of time. It's not that good a predictor of risk factor for DS (it's much better for spina bifida). If you wouldn't have a termination anyway, have the triple blood tests or wait and have an amnio or just wait and have the baby.

We paid for one too as we don't get nuchals on the NHS where we are and we were really worried about gettting a high risk double test result and worrying about it because we didn't want an amnio and our consultant confirmed that the nuchal would be far more accurate than the double test. Plus it was a chance to see our baby sooner as our dating scan wasn't until 14+4. Money well spent we thought. All the best x

Hello all,

Have just found this website... and wondered if anybody had any advice for us? We have had our NT scan and combined blood test. The NT scan was fine.. but when we received the blood tests back i was told that I was in a high rist of having a baby with Downs, a 1 in 150 chance? Has anybody else been given these odds, and will you be having a CVS.. im not sure i want to chance having a miscarriage... very upsetting time..

How old are you? 1 in 150 still means that for every 150 babies born, 149 will not have DS.

Hi Tinker, im 33.

Hi bmonal, I have just been through this. My NT was fine too but the bloods brought our risk to 1:89 for Downs syndrome and 1:50 for Edwards syndrome (which is incompatable with life.) We decided to have a CVS - which was uncomfortable but not painful- and thankfully got a clear result last Friday (CVS done Tues pm). I really feel for you, it's a tough decision as there is a small risk of miscarriage. Try to stay positive and think of it as a percentage - over 99% chance your CVS result would be clear!

My risk came out high, 1.167 so I had blood tests.
Now worrying like mad as result wont be back until next week.
I feel for everyone in this situation.
I am 40 by the way!

I had a nuchal scan because I had a previous baby with a trisomy disorder (trisomy 13)which was not picked up until the five month scan. Thankfully it gave a good indication with the blood test that all was well, as it indeed turned out to be.

bmonal - so sorry to hear of your difficult situation. Best wishes to you, remember that there is every chance your baby is ok.

I think that even if you wouldn't do anything with the result, it's good to be prewarned (even if the NT only gives a probability rather than a certainty). I had the test for both of mine because I didn't want to have amnios and because I'm ancient - at 42, ds2 is 3 months old.

If he had been DS I would have wanted to know about it in advance to prepare myself and others.

So sorry to hear about scary results. Am keeping everything crossed for you.