12 wk scan nuchal fold query

[bubbakin]

I know I'm probably being daft & worrying too much but we've not had a fab start to the year (other than +ve pg test) so I'm convinced something is going to go wrong!! At my 12wk scan the sonographer looked at the screen for a while & then said everything was fine & showed us the baby on the screen. However she didn't mention anything about the nuchal fold & I'm sure they did with my ds. To top it off I've had my triple blood test results back today & they're 1:195, which I know is ok but with DS (who is 3) I was 1:1500. A massive difference, so I'm concerned now that the sonographer didn't check nuchal fold. Is it standard practice to do this & should I stop worrying & assume everything was checked & is fine!
Sorry, just having one of those days!
Bk xx

It may be that they don't do the nuchal fold test in your hospital for everyone. In my old area (when pg with DS) they only did it for women over 35 and I only got the triple test at 16 weeks. In my new area they do a nuchal fold and blood test (called 'combined screening' i think to differentiate from the triple tes) for all women at 12 weeks. It's one of those classic postcode lottery type things. It sounds to me that they didn't do the nuchal fold test as they would have sent you the results by now if they had.

I would try not to worry - while 1:195 is higher than before, it is still a relatively small risk - but I would discuss it at your next midwife appt (or make an appt to discuss) if you are still worried. They would have called you to arrange a follow-up appt if they considered it to be high risk.

So hard not to worry though, I know

I had a risk of 1:100 and I was very worried as I was 17 weeks so it was too late for nuchal fold U/S (I thought), the midwife who specialised in ante-natal testing told me that they always check the nuchal fold at 12 weeks in our area but as they don't have funding (?!?!) for this form of screening they don't mark it down unless there is a problem, in which case they will always do something about it.

Have you gone up an age group since your previous DC, I was over 30 with DS3 which starts to change the odds a bit. You can find out which bits of the test have made your results like this, for example I produced a lot of the HCG hormone (which makes the preg test colour strip work) but was very low for markers for neural tube defects (I think that's AFP). Anyway that's a lot of waffle to say don't worry too much, DS3 is practicaly perfect in everyway and fortunately not troubled by any congenital defects.

Not all NHS hosptials will carry out the nuchal fold test - they will just do a blood test.
This list sets out which hospital does which tests and how accurate they are. I had to go privately for a nuchal fold test.

Did you get a print out of the other measurements (eg crown-rump length etc?). See if it says anything on there.
If not you could phone up and ask them if they checked it. If they did measure it they will have recorded the result, but as other posters say it is not always measured.

If they don't measure it in your hospital, another option is to have the nuchal measurement done privately - there have been a couple of threads on this in the Antenatal Tests section. But you need to do this soon because they can't measure it after about 14 weeks (or maybe earlier - you'll have to check). I was told it was too late for me to have it and I was 15 preg.