New here, just got NT scan results

[San12]

Hello all, I'm very new here and scared.  I'm surfing the net for any information that will ease my worries.  I'm 37 years old, and 13 weeks pg with twins.  We suffered for over 9 years with unexplained IF and finally had success after IVF.  We had an NT scan done on Monday and today we received news that we are at high risk for downs.  We will see a Genetic Counsellor on Monday that will give us more information.  I was called into my family doctor's office today, to be told this information, but they didn't even know if it was one baby or both.  We are terrified of doing an Amno or CVS because of the high m/c rate.  Can anyone give me some insight into this?  I think they said the risk was 1 in 280.  What are the chances of false positives with this scan?

Thanks,
San12

[Tanker Chic]

Try to remember it is just a screening and the babies are often just fine.  There are some risks with amnio, but I wouldn't say there is a high risk of m/c.  

I hope the very best for you and your family.  

[melimeli]

we have had someone here that had a 1 in 20 chance and with the amnio all is good.  try not to worry your results are not bad... did you do the blood work as well?  Also there is a gal on here that m/c with the cvs... good luck

[pcarsey]

Hi San- I agree with mlb- try not panic. I'm not going to say try not to worry because I know in this case *try not to worry* is not even in our vocabulary as I just went through this with my pregnancy only it was for Spina Bifida. My test came back positive twice. I had the level ll ultrasound done and everything is perfect and no sign of spina bifida. you have a 1:280 risk, that is less then 1/2 %.. not even a 1% chance! Those odds are great. The genetics counselor that I had said she would not do an amnio or a cvs with odds that low.  Please just get a level ll ultrasound and talk to a genetics counselor and see what they say. I know the one question that they asked me and my husband. PLEASE THINK REALLY HARD, CALL YOUR PARENTS IF YOU HAVE TO, IS THERE ANYONE IN YOUR FAMILY THAT HAS THIS?? If the answer is no then the odds go down a lot further, which is in your favor! Please I know you are going to worry, but take all the facts into consideration, did they look for all the markers, the heart, the neck and the nose?? if they didn't then when they do the level ll ultrasound they will definitely look for them! Good Luck- Please keep us posted!
Patty

[mlb1234]

Try not to panic - talk to the genetic counselor first.  They will give you the proper info on false positives, etc.  I am not sure but it seems they should have a different risk for each twin since each twin has their own nuchal fold measurement.  Even a 1:280 risk is not very high when you think that you also have a 279 out of 280 chance that the baby will NOT have down's.  I am not sure what the cutoff is though...I can't remember if it is 1:200 or 1:300 where they will recommend amnio or cvs but it probably depends on the doctor.  The risk of miscarriage from amnio is something like 1:200 and even less if you have someone very experienced doing it.  I have read from women on this forum who had it that it was very easy and they would do it again but I also know of one loss from an amnio.  Our risk due to age, etc before the first trimester screen was 1:80 which the genetic counselor did not think was super high because it translates only to 1.25%.  Try to relax and keep things in perspective.  You can always do the quad screen at 16-18 weeks to get more info as well as the level 2 ultrasound.  Best of luck.