Under 35 & considering private nucal fold scan??

[nauseous]

I'm 31, 9& 1/2 weeks pregnant and this is our first baby. We're finding the plethora of tests is a bit overwhelming. My hospital, Queen Charlotte's in London offers nucal fold testing for £145 in their non-profit clinic. I'm just not sure whether its worth it or not just to receive a ratio which from what I understand isn't necessarily even accurate? We get the triple test for free later on, so i'm not sure if we should just wait for this... I don't think that even if the result came back as 10:1 if I would even want a termination anyway. Although if the odds were less favourable I don't know how I'd feel... Sorry if that sounds callous. Has anyone also faced this decision who may be able to enlighten this newbie as to the pros and cons?? Thanks in advance...

QC does a private test called the integrated test. Its meant to be more accurate than just a nuchal fold but it takes longer as they need blood tests from 2 trimesters. It throws up far fewer false positives.

They also used to do an evening when they went though all the tests and explianed them. It was very good you could ask loads of questions.

I had the triple test there with my first and the integrated with my second.

It was suggested I had tests for Downs as i had my first baby at 38. I decided against any testing for many reasons, main one being I was aware I was at an increased risk of a downs baby because of my age so if that had been the outcome we wouldn't have been really shocked. The tests won't give you (as I understand it) a 100% accurate result and I thought that would just increase my anxiety. So the option is there not to have any tests at all, you need to think about what a strongly positive result if you went ahead would mean for you.

I was told by my MW that the triple test that 4 out of 10 women get the wrong result!

So if you can afford the private nuchal fold test do it or if you know you wont have a termination I wouldnt have the triple test as it may cause stress for no reason.

I had the nuchal scan because if anything had been wrong, I would have rather known at 11 weeks than at 20 (I think this is when it was done in my area - maybe it was 16weeks).

If the ratio had come back high then I probably would have had an amnio to confirm or deny, As it was, my ratio came back about 1 in 17,000, so it was one less thing to worry about during my pregnancy, iyswim.

hope this helps.

Have the nuchal...I didn't and then got very high risk blood tests (I was only 28 at the time). Very scarey...but opted for the amnio as couldn't face 20wks pregnancy not knowing if my child had downs. The amnio was fine and my baby girl is downs free.

Just to remind you that the nuchal fold scan (like the triple tes) is not a diagnostic test. In other words it can only give you a risk for Down?s Syndrome.

If you need to know for sure you need CVS as an early test or amnio at 20 wks, tho both of these carry a risk of MC (less of a risk depending on the skill of the person doing the test AFAIK)

But is it the integrated test there? That need 2 blood tests, with one in the second trimester and its far more accurate than the nuchal fold alone.

Thanks for your advice ladies. I'm going to ring the hopsital, get more info and go along to the parents evening thingy so to speak. Cheers

I agree with pointer. The Fetal Med Centre on 137 Harley Street is excellent. You'll get the best care & tests that money can buy. They are very experienced!!