NIPT blood test

[JungleRun21]

Can anyone offer any advice on the NIPT blood test at all?

I have had my first midwife appointment and we discussed getting this test done privately due to my age as I'm 40.
It's not my first pregnancy but I think as I am a few years down the line, it seems more important.

I have had a look online and there seem to be so many places which offer it, I don't know where to start.

Has anyone gone private for this test, and if so, where did you go? How was your experience? Were your results as expected and do you feel you got the reassurance you needed from it?

All advice welcome!

I'm 42 and currently pregnant with our second child.

I chose to pay for the NIPT privately before my 12 week scan - my reasoning was that my combined test results were bound to be high risk due to age at least and I didn't want the extra stress.

I was overseas at the time so can't help with the 'where' but the process was very straight forward. We did the advanced one which tests for about 70 different things and all came back low risk plus we found out we were having another little girl.

I went into the 12 week scan feeling much more relaxed.

Recommend ultrasound direct. Most places end up sending to same labs to check anyway

I just had a private NIPT done with Window to the Womb. They send the bloods to Concepto Diagnostics for the testing & results. It was a really smooth process - I had my appointment on a Friday, got my results on the following Wednesday evening. They only receeived the bloods on Monday, so it was actually just 2 days processing time! Concepto then sent the results directly to my email as a password protected PDF. Extra bonus - we got to find out the sex already!

It’s either the Harmony or Panorama test you want. So any reputable clinic that offers these tests.

Where are you based? So that you can suggestions relevant to you.

I wouldn’t do Panorama if in the UK. Unless it’s changed since I had my 4YO bloods used to be sent to California so it’ll take a while for results- I was in the US at the time so less of an issue for me. I’d probably just go to your nearest place that does Harmony.

I used Goodbody and went for the most comprehensive option (more than £1k 🤦🏼‍♀️). I wouldn’t recommend the clinic as they sent my sample to the wrong place and, by the time they called to say that they had found the sample but possibly wouldn’t be able to test as it had been too long since my blood test, I’d had a MMC at 13 weeks (so no chance of repeating the tests). They actually were able to run the tests in the end so I then knew that the reason for the MMC was trisomy 13, which was helpful to know. However, the stress it created at a difficult time was awful, and when I complained they first ignored it, then refused to acknowledge any issues (“as we we’re able to run the tests in the end”).

Both panorama and Harmony are sent to the US. Both times I had results within a week so it doesn’t take that long.

We used local providers, though different ones for each pregnancy. I seem to recall the bloods going to Italy for the second one, and we got a phone call with the results (followed up with an email). We didn't bother with the NHS screening, the NIPT was plenty reassurance for us.

Harmony doesn't exist anymore - there are more reliable tests now so I didn't see anywhere which did this

@JungleRun21 if you go privately you have two main options initially - one where they just do bloods and ones where they do bloods and ultrasound - both of these you can do from 11 weeks. If you know you're well past 11 weeks you might be less bothered by the ultrasound whereas others may want it to be sure of viability.

The bloods only (e.g. window to the womb) I'd expect to be around £250-300. For bloods plus scan you'd usually expect around £400 (Harley Street was a bit more - £500 but I did get two scans)

Then I'd look for somewhere that clearly outlines what they'd do if you have a high risk results - somewhere that contacts you to discuss the outcome and has an NHS referral route.

There are different test providers - I ruled out the US lab based ones (e.g. panorama) as I didn't want to wait that long and I was only interested in the basic testing (DS, Edwards and Pateau) - there are tests which offer more screening but these are less reliable and also incredibly uncommon so unless you have a specific reason you might not want to do this.

Otherwise where you go has very little to do with it as they use the same labs.

I used London Fertility Clinic the first time, they were great, felt very professional and slick.

Second time I wasn't travelling to London for work so went with ultrasound direct who were great too, just not a consultant and one less scan (also £100 less)

You can also opt to find out gender with all that I saw

Thank you everyone for your information.
I'm considering booking with Window to the Womb only because they're fairly local to me and will be easier to fit in when my toddler is in nursery.
I can't help but feel a bit odd about booking with them as they seem more focussed around scans and gender reveals.
We had a 4D scan at one of their branches previously and it felt very much like a rushed experience where they just seemed to want to sell us extras?

Ill have a look at other companies to see what they offer and will go from there.

In both my pregnancies, I went to Ultrasound Direct just to confirm the pregnancy and another time in my second pregnancy when I had a sudden panic one afternoon that I hadn’t felt him yet, and other than that I went to a private clinic run by an gynae obstetrician for any scans. It’s much more expensive than UD and Window to the Womb, but after reading horror stories of these places getting it wrong I wanted someone more medical and experienced for scans.

Harmony doesn't exist anymore

Ah didn’t know this, thanks!

Hey @RF1203, I'm currently waiting for my results. I wondered what time they sent your results? Today would be day 5 of waiting for me so I'm wondering if there's still a chance they'd arrive tonight.

Thanks
Alys

My midwife suggested paying for the private NIPT as well when I had my first appointment at 9 weeks.
This was mainly due to my age (40) and the fact I was going to get a high risk screening at the combined test at 13 weeks.

We used Window to the Womb. The process was simple. They have you sign a form for consent then take the sample and send it to Concepto labs.
They offer the standard screrning and advanced screening which looks for other conditions aside from the 3 main Trisomies. You can also find out the sex.

Our results came back quickly via email and was password protected.
Everything was low risk so put our minds at ease.
We still had the NHS combined screening which also came back very low risk so we did wonder if we should have had the NIPT done in the first place.

The only thing I will say is that the NIPT is good as a screening tool, but it doesnt exclude anything completely.
We had an abnormality come up on our 20 week scan.
When we spoke to fetal medicine we said we had a low risk NIPT and they advised it is just a screening aid and has no diagnostic properties. They recommended an amniocentesis to actually rule in or out other conditions on top of the low risk NIPT.