How many weeks into pregnancy should you do Down syndrome screening?

Every pregnant woman wants to make her body healthier and her baby to be healthier in the future. Therefore, many pregnant women want to fully understand how many weeks after pregnancy to do Down syndrome screening. The following content gives a detailed introduction to many pregnant women. You can have a specific understanding of the following content to see how many weeks are most suitable for Down syndrome screening.

At how many weeks of pregnancy should one do Down syndrome screening? According to experts in obstetrics and gynecology, 15-20 weeks of pregnancy is generally more suitable for Down syndrome screening, and fasting is not required for Down syndrome screening. Down syndrome screening only requires drawing blood from the arm, and not a lot of blood is drawn, which is similar to the blood drawing process for a regular physical examination.

However, the results could not be obtained at that time and it took about a week to wait. As for those who need to have amniocentesis, those who are screened as high-risk groups are required. Since Down syndrome is a sporadic disease, in terms of probability, every pregnant woman may give birth to a child with Down syndrome. There is currently no effective treatment for Down syndrome, so in the absence of other more accurate tests, pregnant women are advised to undergo Down syndrome screening as much as possible.

Down syndrome screening is a detection method that extracts serum from pregnant women, tests the concentration of alpha-fetoprotein and chorionic gonadotropin in the maternal serum, and calculates the risk factor of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome based on the pregnant woman's due date, age, weight and gestational age at the time of blood collection. The best time to do screening is between the 15th and 20th weeks of pregnancy. There is no point in checking a few weeks before delivery because the fetus is already large. If the examination finds that the fetus has Down syndrome or is at a higher risk, it cannot be avoided through artificial abortion as in the early stages of pregnancy. If abnormalities are found, either induction of labor is required or the deformed baby must be born. Therefore, late pregnancy check-up is not necessary. If everything is normal, then there is no need to worry.

The above is a comprehensive introduction to how many weeks after pregnancy to do Down syndrome screening. Therefore, for many pregnant women, in order to do Down syndrome screening at the most suitable time, they must have a comprehensive understanding of the above content. After understanding it, they can do Down syndrome screening at the appropriate time to ensure the health of their physical and mental health and that of their children.