Screening Choices Continued......

Here is the continuing page for screening choices that are offered to women during their pregnancy

Triple Blood Test

• Some times called Maternal Serum Test, this test is to estimate the chance of the mother carrying a baby with a defect such as Downs Syndrome or Spinda Bifda and is usually performed between 16 - 18 weeks.
• Other names for this test are The Leeds Test, The Double Test or The Barts Test.
• The rsults are estimated by an early ultrasound dating scan. Accordind to hospital policies, the substances measured will usually be a combination of AFP, uE3, inhibin-A and free BhCG. The concetration of these substances are used together my the mothers age to work out the risk of Downs Syndrome.
• Women with a higher risk than 1 in 250 are offered an amniocentesis, 1 in 20 women will get a high risk result

Ultrasound

• This technique is used in most Hospitals to monitor the growth and health of an unborn baby.
• A scan done before 16 weeks is usually a dating scan to determine the babies age and is also able to detect some major malformations.
• A detailed scan is usually done at 18 - 21 weeks will show up any major malformations as well as small ones.