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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Nuchal Fold tomorrow- advice needed please

56 replies

Tilberry · 21/12/2008 08:27

Hi, I'm 41 and have been advised to have a nuchal fold test. This will be my second baby and the last was 10 years ago so I've no experience of this. Can anyone please explain what exactly happens?- Also do do you get the results at the time? Thanks x

OP posts:

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Kanuck · 26/01/2009 20:31

I believe that PCTs set different risk factor thresholds because there is an associated cost to them of doing further diagnostic CVS or Amnio tests.

The Fetal Medicine Centre, for example puts the at risk threshold to 1:300 but my hospital has this at 1:250. So my hospital quite possibly would do fewer diagnostic tests than the private clinic.

You could argue the reverse for the private clinics who do have a commercial interest in doing more tests. Fetal Medicine Centre is a non-profit but do thrive off research which becomes more statistically significant with more procedures completed.

Kanuck · 26/01/2009 20:34

Somehow i missed your post mogwai - I pretty much repeated what you wrote just minutes ago!

bebetrois · 27/01/2009 12:29

Can anyone just offer em some advice. I had a nuchal scan done last week. I am 34 and this is my third baby, I miscarried last year and I am so anxious it's making me ill. I just had the scan they don't do the blood where I am, my risk was 1 in 1450 but I am still over anxious. My consultant has said he will do amino if I want, but I am scared of miscarrying a healthy baby. I am crying as I am emailing this as I don't think I can cope with my nervous feelings about something being wrong. I just want to know everything is ok, is that the wrong reason for an amino?

Nekabu · 27/01/2009 14:45

bebetrois, 1:1450 is very low but if you are really worried, could you ask your hospital to do the blood test for you? If not, are you anywhere near London? Others on here have recommended the Fetal Medical Centre.

Nekabu · 28/01/2009 09:04

How are things with you today, bebetrois?

christiana · 28/01/2009 09:24

Message withdrawn

LeninGrad · 28/01/2009 09:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bebetrois · 29/01/2009 10:25

Thank you for your advice everyone. I am still not great, I feel so anxious yet I know I am probably deemed to be low risk. It's been 5 years since I had my last baby and I am so much more aware of the risks and things that happen to people than I was in my twenties. I have a constant churning in my tummmy and have even started having morning sickness again just because of the nerves. My mind goes around in circles, I think an amnio would help reassure me but I couldn't cope if I lost a healthy baby because my inability to manage my anxiety has made be opt for the test and then I miscarried.

bebetrois · 29/01/2009 10:38

Oh I should have added they don't do blood test and scan at the clinic I go to here, i think that factor is worrying too.

Nekabu · 29/01/2009 10:45

As you are so worried would it be possible for you to go to the Fetal Medical Centre? Hopefully they should be able to allay your fears.

herbaceous · 29/01/2009 10:46

I do know how you feel. I had a 1:99 result from nuchal fold and blood tests, and was sent into a spin. But its the way it's all presented. Like it's the worst thing in the world. It's the only thing they can test for, of all the things that can go wrong, so builds up this enormous importance.

I think because we can 'control' this aspect, with screening, amnio etc, we concentrate on the possibility of things being wrong, rather than things being right.

But as others have said, having a DS baby isn't the worst thing in the world, and there's a 1:1449 chance that the baby will be unaffected, anyway. Despite our result, in the end we decided not to go for CVS or amnio as the chances of miscarrying were about the same as having a DS baby, and we wouldn't have terminated whatever the result. I've had five miscarriages, and didn't want to risk another, esp as this is likely to be my first and last baby (I'm 43).

bebetrois · 29/01/2009 10:51

Ni I'm in N.ireland so Fetal MEDICAL cENTRE is not an option. I am private with the best there is locally. It is a terrible to feel so anxious. I just feel that I need to know that everything was ok.

Kanuck · 29/01/2009 11:27

I just came back from the Fetal Medicine Centre an hour ago. Very impressed with the facilities and the thoroughness of the testing. I am 41 and so risk rate for my age is 1:50 but was lucky to get 1:1660. The absolute best result for my age would be 1:2000 which is 40x the overall risk for my age class. This 40x factor holds true for any age group risk rate.

Although their miscarriage rate for CVS is less than 1%, they saw no reason to do it and neither did we.

bebetrois I think your risk rate is great. We had said we'd be happy with 1:1000 and thus not test. If you are not going to be satisfied then take a cheap Ryanair flight down to London, do the FMC testing and have a CVS in the afternoon if you come up as high risk. You can fly back the same day and probably get a mid week flight for VERY cheap. FMC test is £150 and worth every penny (in my opinion). They also give you loads of pics. Probably worth it to alleviate your stress . . . ?

NotQuiteCockney · 29/01/2009 11:30

The thing is, the risk of complications from an amnio or similar is 1:100, so if your risk is better than that, why bother with an amnio? (And absolutely, if you wouldn't terminate, don't have an amnio!)

bebetrois · 29/01/2009 11:59

At 14 weeks am I not too late for the screening to be repeated

Kanuck · 29/01/2009 14:27

ah yes, FMC typically do this test between weeks 11 and 13.

I agree with the comment about the amnio risks too, esp when you have such a good result. FMC explained this exact point to me this morning when trying to help me weigh both sets of odds (miscarriage vs. much lower Down's risk).

To put your 0.1% risk factor into perspective, and i hope i don't stress you out more with this - At a recent NHS seminar I went to on the whole chromosomal abnormality thing, they told the group that 2-3% of babies are born with something out of the ordinary that goes undetected in scans and rarely is serious. This could be something as simple as an allergy. Makes your 0.1% Down's risk teeny tiny, doesn't it?

I hope I am not offending you or sounding condescending - certainly don't mean to . . .

bebetrois · 29/01/2009 15:07

Thank you Kanuck. I have had another conversation with consultant who has advised me that I need to try and get anxiety under control somehow now. He will scan me again at 16 weeks and we can see howthings are then. I still will have a choice about amnio but maybe I will have settled down by then and will be seeing things more clearly. He's going to speak to my husband (a doctor) too about the anxiety from a medical perspective. Feel a bit better now.

NotQuiteCockney · 29/01/2009 17:34

Yeah, we used the FMC, too - their amnio risks are probably the lowest you can get, as they do a lot of amnios. (I also am the same nationality as you, I think!)

I think there are some soft markers for Down's that can be seen at the 20-week scan.

Kanuck · 29/01/2009 17:41

Yes we were told by FMC that we'd get another Down's risk rate at 20 weeks. If all went well until then the risk rate would effectively halve.

NotQuite Same nationality, eh?

NotQuiteCockney · 29/01/2009 18:18

Yup, that's the one. How long have you been in the UK?

Kanuck · 29/01/2009 18:33

5 1/5 years, 2 of those in Manc and the rest in west London.

NotQuiteCockney · 29/01/2009 18:36

Ah, it's ... um ... nearly 13 years for me. Half a year in Oxfordshire, 2 years in West London, and the rest in East London.

duchesse · 30/01/2009 10:33

I want to be Canadian too! [jealous]

NotQuiteCockney · 30/01/2009 21:29

Really? Why? It's like being from a made-up country. We have a nice flag. We say 'eh' a lot. Nobody knows anything else about us.

Oh, and when people say 'you know, that Canadian author', they always mean Margaret Atwood. (And they always say they don't have any Canadian music. Everbody has Canadian music.)

duchesse · 30/01/2009 23:31

Leonard Cohen, Avril Lavigne, (Celine urgh), Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1/2 of Rufus and Martha Wainwright)... There loads!

We lived in Montreal for a year and loved it! We have way enough points to emigrate to Quebec if we want to (93 last time I checked), and thoroughly enjoyed the weather. It was -40C during the January the year we were there and we couldn't stop smiling -we were like fools abroad. And the snow! Lovely lovely snow, so unlike UK snow which is always wet and heavy.

I'm not sure Saskatchewan or the Northern Territories would be quite as fun as the East coast was mind you...

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