What is the screening of mother's serum?
maternal serum screening consists of two different tests carried out in pregnant mothers at different times during pregnancy, which can help indicate a greater or less likely of certain congenital fetal defects. These tests are not the diagnosis of congenital defects - they could indicate the need for further diagnostic testing or that further diagnosis is probably not unnecessary. Screenings are non -invasive and may be preferred over the start of larger and in some cases by more risky diagnostic methods.
The first of the tests of maternal serum screening has two elements and takes place between 11 and 13 weeks of pregnancy. The first element is the mother's blood test, usually collected in the laboratory. The second part is ultrasound.
maternal blood is evaluated to beta-HCG levels (human chorionic gonadotropin) and PAPP-A (plasma protein ad pregnancy). Changes in these levels from the expected standards may indicate an increased risk of trisomy 18, Down Syndo and congenital heart defects. InterrogationBlood dots are compared with ultrasonic measurement of the rear of the fetal neck, which, if increased in thickness, may indicate another risk.
The findings from the first trimester of the maternal screening of serum should indicate another risk of fetal disorders, women could undergo amniocents, chorionic clusic sampling, or have a fetal echocardiogram several months after testing. These other diagnostic tests are necessary because abnormal findings on maternal serum screening can be false alarms. The design of increased risk of congenital defects or genetic problems does not mean that the fetus is affected.
Some women have the first parent serum screening with proposed abnormal findings and during the second trimester they have a second test. Alternately, women can wait until the second trimester before screening, or may not have it at all. Second screening is a triple test that measures different things. Looks at HCG, but soEstradiol and alpha-fetoprotein evaluate. The Quad test, the alternative, measures another hormone in maternal blood, called inhibin-A, increasing the accuracy of the test by about 10%-15%.
Screening of the second trimester of maternal serum also evaluates other factors when considering the risk of a child with certain congenital defects or genetic problems. The number of previous births, the age of mothers and the health of mothers are part of creating a ratio that indicates a risk. Again, these tests do not prove that there are congenital defects. They only propose a amount of risk based on testing. On the other hand, consistent findings of testing the first and second trimester can quite reliably predict conditions, such as Down about 90-95% of the time.
maternal serum screening is not required, and some women may combine horror stories about projections that inaccurately indicate congenital defects. Some upcoming MOMS like to have the opportunity to have these tests because they can exclude the need for more extensive diagnoses even if tests with normal nAals can also be inaccurate. As they learn more, there is evidence that these tests are in fact more accurate than they expected, and some scientists suggest that greater improvement of such projections can eventually cause unnecessary diagnostic tools to unnecessarily cause.