Nuchal Scan/DS risk factor

[JenJam]

Hi...this testing business is a minefield, what do you reckon on this, I had a NHS scan at 11 weeks that showed a 2.7 mm nuchal on a 4.4 cm crown to rump (read up a bit on this on the internet and discovered that this is a little higher than usual, but lower than cut off point of 3.5 mm. I was offered the integrated test but this will not give risk factor result until week 17.
I currently have work commitments week 18-21 that take me to the US...which means i cannot 'do' anything about the integrated test results whatever they may be ...ie. have an amnio...anyway, a pregnant acquaintence suggested i go private and have combined test..this would put my mind at rest or at least tell me to cancel the trip pending results of more stringent integrated test. So i had a harley street combined test at the cost of £150(!), hoping to get the risk factor, suprisingly this test showed a nuchal fold of 1.4 (had this one 9 days after the NHS scan - which, when combined with blood results gives a 1 in 7500 risk of DS (hooray!). went back to hosp today for booking in visit and mentioned the discrepancy between the two nuchal measurements, said I didnt want to go ahead with integrated...unless they would take a second look at nuchal measurement, as now concerned that nuchal may not be correct. hosp could not explain the difference and refused to rescan me to double check. in fact they seemed a bit narked that I had gone private (unsurprisingly). They said that their sonographer is very experienced and that they felt they did not need to redo the nuchal and they would work out my risk via the integrated test at week 16 based on the 2.7 measurement at week 11. this is going on a bit. but ...here's my question. What would you do/believe, do I sit quiet and see what the risk factor is based on 2.7? or would you pay for another private scan while I can still have one ,with another different sonographer 'best of 3 approach (I'm 13 weeks today). or ignore the nhs integrated test results and stick with the very favourable private scan 'odds'?. And does any of this matter???
what do you think?

I think the question is "what do you want to do with the information you receive?" There may be a very, very slight chance. That's all you will find out. If the risk increases, would you conisider termination? I remember worrying about this a lot in early preg but after a few weeks, I hardly thought about it. I'm not trying to minimise how you feel but for most people the odds are very long.

How old are you btw?

thanks for replying beansprout. i'm 32. if I was very high risk i would have an amnio to be sure either way..and if that was positive then I would have to have a very serious think with my partner about what to do next.

A friend had the nuchal scan and the triple test and then went on to give birth to a downs syndrome baby, when they got over the initial shock and queried the results the hospital and private clinic for the Nuchal scan, said none of these tests are 100% - and said the only way they would have known was to have the Amnio - sorry but thought you should know this as as Beansprout has already said, what would you do if you were given the info....

The only thing that will truly 'put your mind at rest' is an invasive test and you could have one tomorrow. The nuchal fold is only ever about probabilities. From my own research I found that generally the nuchal folds in children with DS are much thicker than the cut off point that you describe. However, no test apart from the invasive ones are 100%. What was the percentage risk from your NHS test?

hi aloha, I won't get the results of the nhs test until week 16-17.

I thought the process is to have the tests...if these show high probability then take the risk with the amnio. but if tests cannot be relied on then perhaps I should go straight to amnio instead of waiting around for test results. Or totally skip all tests and just wait and see! It's not that I have strong feelings about having a baby with DS or edwards, but i would like to be prepared, find out more, see what's involved if there is a high risk, this is my first child i'm new to all this, my dating/nuchal scan was scheduled before my first midwife appointment...so i embarked on what i thought was a 'routine' process without properly understanding the implications. and am not sure what to do next

I don't understand...at my local NHS hospital you get the results of your nuchal test immediately -ie at the scan appointment. Do you mean the result of the nuchal + blood test? At Kings, which is a world centre for scanning, they don't even offer blood tests as regard them as much less accurate than the nuchal fold.

hi aloha i'm not sure what you mean by % i thought you meant the odds/probability risk factor i.e. 'you hve 1 in XXXX chances of having a baby with X or Y'. at the nuchal scan i was just given a piece of paper that reports the nuchal measurement of 2.7. I gave blood part one and was advised to come back no earlier than week 15 for bloods part two. so haven't had a % or risk factor yet, but am told i will get this at week 16-17 (in meantime i got my impatient little butt off to harley street clinic for instant, one stop shop combined test, to give me a feel for whether I was in scratchcard territory or a heads or tails situation...esp, as am off on work trip at week 18, without anyone obvious to cover me in case of worrying results. Anyway am starting to feel i'm making a mountain out of a potential molehill - after all my bloods are obviously alright to give such good result at private clinic. Bloody worrying though if it is a mistake. I just read Bubble99's post, v. worrying/anxiety inducing.

aloha just read your post again. so nuchal measurement accuracy is the important bit, not the bloods. well that stuffs up my theory a bit. anyway must go to bed, night night