What does abnormal mom value mean in Down syndrome screening?

After becoming pregnant, in addition to ensuring adequate rest and a balanced intake of nutrients, women should also follow the doctor's instructions and go to the hospital for regular check-ups. Among all the examination items, Down syndrome screening is a very important one. Down syndrome screening refers to a prenatal selection test for Down syndrome. By doing this test, you can know whether the fetus is deformed. Many expectant mothers found that the MOM value was abnormal after doing this test. What does this mean?

Down syndrome screening mainly involves extracting women's blood cells and then testing the levels of some biochemical indicators in the blood cells. It tests the concentrations of alpha-fetoprotein, human gonadotropin and free estriol in the pregnant mother's blood cells, and also combines the specific conditions of the pregnant woman such as age and weight to determine the risk of the fetus suffering from congenital idiocy and neural tube defects. Down syndrome is a disease caused by chromosomal abnormalities. Nearly 60% of fetuses will be miscarried in the womb. Even if they can survive, they will have complications such as intellectual disabilities, facial abnormalities, and delayed growth and language development.

MOM means multiple of median. In the case of Down syndrome screening, many associations use the median value to represent the overall level of a set of data. The MOM value is actually a relative value, which is mainly analyzed for a certain actual event. The MOM value can avoid laboratory intermediate system errors and can also standardize the gestational age of women. Because the median value is not easily affected by external factors, clinical medicine often uses MOM as a reference standard. If the MOM value is abnormal, the possibility of having a Down syndrome baby will be very high, but this cannot rule out the possibility of fetal neurovascular malformations. Therefore, in order to further diagnose the disease, invasive DNA or amniocentesis tests must be performed.

When a woman becomes pregnant for a certain period of time, she must go to the hospital for Down syndrome screening, which can determine the probability of fetal malformation. If the mom value is abnormal after Down syndrome screening, it proves that the fetus may be a malformation or have a neurovascular disease. In order to obtain more accurate results, pregnant women must undergo other tests such as amniocentesis to confirm the condition.