When will the results of Down syndrome screening be available?

Women should undergo various examinations in the early and middle stages of pregnancy and before and after the expected delivery date. The Down syndrome screening test is the most important test for women in the middle and late stages of pregnancy. It is an abbreviation for Down syndrome and prenatal screening test. It is done by extracting serum from pregnant women to check the concentrations of fetal protein, chorionic gonadotropin and free estriol. So, when can the results of Down syndrome screening be obtained?

1. When will the results of Down syndrome screening be available?

The operation of Down syndrome screening is very simple. You just need to draw blood, and the amount of blood is not much, about 2 ml, which is not as scary as pregnant mothers imagine. The doctor will perform special processing on the blood to test the concentration of alpha-fetoprotein, human chorionic gonadotropin and free estriol, and calculate the risk factor of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome based on the expected date of delivery, weight, age, weight and gestational age of the pregnant mother when the blood is collected. Pregnant mothers do not need to make any special preparations, nor do they need to fast. They just need to fill out the form and go for a blood test. Generally speaking, the time for the Down syndrome screening results to be released depends on the specific arrangements of the hospital. Most hospitals can produce results within 7-10 days. So pregnant women can get the report within 10 working days.

2. What needs to be checked for Down syndrome screening?

The MOM that appears on the Down syndrome screening result sheet refers to the multiple of the median value, which refers to how many times the test result of the serum marker of an individual pregnant woman in the prenatal screening is the median concentration of the serum marker of the normal pregnant women group at that gestational week. The main data to look at are the concentrations of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG), free estriol (uE3) and inhibin A.

1. The general range of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is 0.7-2.5MOM. A level above 2.5MOM indicates high risk.

Down syndrome screening is to check the concentration of alpha-fetal protein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), free estriol, etc. in the maternal serum. There is no accurate value for Down syndrome screening, only a ratio. When the blood test screening value is greater than 1/270, it is a high-risk group, and the normal value is about 1/700. The international standard is 1/270.

2. The higher the chorionic gonadotropin, the lower the free estriol (uE3) (generally ≤0.25MOM) and the higher the inhibin A (Inhibin A), the higher the chance that the fetus will suffer from Down syndrome.

The doctor will also input the above four items together with the pregnant woman's age, weight, number of weeks of pregnancy, etc. into the computer to estimate the risk of Down syndrome in the fetus. If the probability indicated by the test results is greater than the normal reference value (1/270), the result is positive, indicating that the probability of the fetus being sick is relatively high and a more detailed examination is needed. However, the calculation methods and standards of each hospital are not exactly the same. Some hospitals' normal value standards are less than 1/270, while others are less than 1/380.

From the introduction in this article, you can know that Down syndrome screening will generally produce results within 7-10 days. There are many items that need to be checked for Down syndrome screening. If you want to know the results of Down syndrome screening, then you'd better follow the doctor's instructions after the examination and go to the hospital to collect the test results after being informed of the results over the phone.