Is fasting necessary for Down syndrome screening?

Prenatal check-ups are not only an act of responsibility towards yourself, but also an obligation to your children and family. One of the prenatal checkups is Down syndrome screening, which is used to check whether the baby is a Down syndrome patient. Many tests at the hospital require fasting. Is it also necessary for Down's syndrome test? Let’s learn about it below.

Do I need to fast for Down syndrome screening?

Generally speaking, Down syndrome screening often uses collaborative serology to screen for Down syndrome. The whole process is to extract the peripheral blood of the pregnant woman and then obtain the blood cells therein. During this whole process, the pregnant woman does not need to fast. During the blood cell test, the concentration of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the mother's blood cells will be tested, and the "risk factor" will be calculated based on the mother's date of birth, age, gestational age at the time of blood test, and weight. In this way, 60-70% of congenital idiocy can be detected. To achieve the goal of being a "saint".

In addition, this test can also detect pregnant women at high risk of neural tube defects, trisomy 18 syndrome and trisomy 13 syndrome. However, if the blood cell test is positive, an amniotic fluid test is also required to confirm the diagnosis. It should be noted that you do not need to be on an empty stomach for the Down syndrome test, but it is also not suitable to be tested after eating too much. If you need to do other tests that require fasting on the same day, you can make preparations according to the basics.

What are the new projects of Down syndrome screening?

Down syndrome screening generally checks the blood cell markers of pregnant women, including the concentrations of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human hCG gonadal hormone (β-hCG), free estriol (uE3) and inhibin A. It is divided into the following several processes:

The first phase of Down syndrome screening is carried out when the expectant mother is 9-13 weeks pregnant, using ultrasound and blood tests to estimate the risk of the fetus having Down syndrome. In the second phase of screening, blood tests are done at 15-20 weeks of pregnancy and the estimation is combined with the results of the first phase. If the risk is high, you may want to do hcg sampling, which is an invasive test and requires careful communication with your doctor, or amniocentesis, which is also an invasive test but is less risky than chorionic villus sampling. According to the above procedure, more accurate results can usually be obtained.