Nuchal Translucency Scan - any thoughts?

[Tyro22]

Hiya

Im 10 and a half weeks pregnant and have been to my booking appointment with my midwife. She told me a litle about the Nuchal Translucency Scan to work out the risk of having a Down's Syndrome baby. Its only done privately in my area (for £200) between 11 and 13 weeks. Can anyone tell me more about it please. What does it show? How accurate is it? Is it worth having? She has also offered a blood tect at 15-19 weeks.
Thanks xx

I had one privately with this one (am 27 weeks) as they are not available on the NHS here either. Basically, I was concerned about the increased risk of Down's because of my age. Basically, it was just a normal scan, where various measurements were taken, most noteably the nuchal fold thickness, and I was then given a ratio likeliness for Down's, which was more accurate than if done just via bloods and age of mother. With my test they took blood and worked out the likelihood with that and the scan.
I can't remember the percentage success rate, I'm afraid, but no test save CVS and amnio is 100%, and I was concerned about the risks of the invasive tests.
For me, I was concerned about the risks I was given due to age only (will be 37 when baby due) and this test out my mind at ease, so it was worth the £170 to me. However, with ds (born when I was 30) I have to say it didn't cross my mind.
Hope this helps, and no doubt someone who knows more will be along to help later...

Thank you. Im 44! But my baby has been conceived via egg donation - the egg was from a 26 year old woman! So not sure where that leaves me, or whether the scan will take that into account! Complicated.

tyro i paid for a private nt scan in this pg, cost £180. they take blood from you then do the scan as bellsaringing said.

what would you do if the results came back with a high risk? if you would not risk an amnio (depending on who does it 1:200 risk of miscarriage) is it worth having the scan?

for me i would of had the amnio so it was worth knowing the risk iyswim.

I had the nuchal scan done privately. Cost £169. It's not offered on the NHS in my area either. My midwife didn't think I should have it if I wasn't going to have an amnio or cvs if it came back high risk but we wanted to be prepared more than anything and if it was high risk wouldn't have necessarily terminated just done research and talked about how we would cope. I will be 32 when my baby is born (due October) so not really high risk but felt it was right for me to have the scan as it doesn't always relate to age. I am glad I had the scan and feel if it is something you want to do for peace of mind then it's worth the money.
Good luck.

If you have a donor egg, your risk will be the same as the age of the donor. Talk it through before deciding in relation to donor age.

IMO nuchals are useful for women who may find themselves high risk but they often present more questions than they answer. I had one but I am old!

As others have said, if you wouldn't do an amnio/cvs and therefore risk m/c, I wouldn't bother with a NT in your situation.

NTs are around 80%-90% accurate if done well and combined with blood tests and other factors. You maybe need more info before deciding.

Try ARC - antenatal results and choices, they are on the internet and have a helpline. Really good advice givers and up to date info about this area. Good luck.

Gosh - with your situation RE the much younger egg I wonder how they would calculate your risk?

I am 40 and they gave me a starting risk based on my age of 1 in 77. I think you would need to tell them about the donor egg and that might change things but not sure.

I had a risk of 1 in 80 and so had the amnio as I decided I needed to know about any chromosonal problems.

www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Antenatal-Screening-for-Down's-Syndrome.htm

Says here that age of donor is what they use to calculate the risk.

Also a helpful article.

Firstly, congratulations!! If it's a donor egg, not sure how the blood tests would help at all in determining the risk? Possibly the consultant who oversaw your fertility treatment would be able to provide a better answer as to which tests could give you a risk factor for Down's and which would be misleading - he/she must have been asked this question before. If it was me, I'd find that out before agreeing to any testing, particularly if you've got to stump up the cash yourself.
I echo the other posters who have said you need to think about what you would do with the results. We decided not to have any of these screening tests because we knew that we would never consider a termination. I'm 38, so know that age is also against me. If we had the screening and it came back low risk, fine. But if it came back high risk, we'd be left worrying for the remainder of the pregnancy - we weren't prepared to have amnio or CVS because of the risk of miscarriage, which is small but still there.