Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

I had the appointment this morning to get my ultrascreen results...they told me my odds were higher than that of a 35 year old (I am 28) at 1:286...

The genetic counselor said that the baby's head looked fine, it was my bloodwork/protein levels that worsened the results...

The decision to get an amnio is left up to me and my husband. But I am scared to do that...I don't think that I would terminate the pregnancy even if something was wrong. And being 28 with no family history of abnormalities and the head being fine on the baby, I don't know if the amnio is worth it...

Any advice? My husband is at work today, so I'm not telling him until tonight, but I want to have as much info as possible when I do...

Has anyone else gotten bad results and been fine without the amnio?

Thanks in advance...

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

I actually think there is a very high rate of false positives on these tests. What did the doctor recommend?

If you feel the risks of the amnio out weigh the benefits of the test and you would not change anything, then don't have the test. If it makes you feel better to KNOW, then have it.

I am sorry I wasn't much help, I am sure everything will be fine

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

Hi!
first- I know how stressful this can be.

I've heard so many mixed reviews about the bloodwork. In that sense, I'm the opposite of you. I'm 37, yet, my bloodwork is that of a 20 year old. At the time we got those results, we opted not to do the amnio.

I went for the Level II and they discovered cysts near her brain and thought she might have a cleft lip or palatte, which would be a bigger red flag to some other disorders. I went back and the reading was fine- no cleft anything! (YAY). However, I opted to still do the amnio ONLY b/c I wanted to have peace of mind.

I'm a huge worry wart, and if she was going to have something wrong, i.e. downs, than I wanted to be able to be prepared as to what I would need to know and how to raise a child with such a disorder.

If you don't have any family history though, your chances are very slim. that's what I've learned in all my research. I get my amnio results back today though, so we'll know for sure.

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

I haven't gotten my results yet so I am not speaking from personal experience BUT, I know of a number of people whose results were not good and it meant NOTHING. They either did the amnio and found out everything was fine or had the baby that ended up being perfect. I have yet to know of anyone who got bad results and found out there actually was a problem. From what my dr. told me this is most often the case.

In fact, I did the ultrascreen only to have a sono to see the baby. Regardless of the results i am 99% sure I will NOT do the amnio.

Please don't worry too much because I am SURE your baby is fine

Message edited 2/26/2007 2:00:02 PM.

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

I've known several cases where women received false positives from several different tests. One case, my cousin and his wife went through h e l l and back. They were told that their daughter had the most horiffic ailments... spina bifida, hole in the heart, so many things. She also received top notched care as her father was head of psychiatry for Bellevue at the time.

Long story short, their daughter was premie. I think about 34 weeks but PERFECT in every way. Not one physical or mental issue. She was just smaller for her age for a few years.

That's only one of the many cases I know. All had healthy babies.

It just goes to show that these tests are not 100% accurate and neither are the doctors. So many of them have high rates of false positives.

It's a personal decision but sometimes I think these tests often cause more stress.

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

Since I am older, I did an amnio. I did not do the ultrascreen, there was no need.

Honestly, both the genetic counselor and OB told me that the ultrascreen was JUST a screening. It cannot tell you for sure whether the baby has abnormalities. ONLY the amnio will.

This is just a screening. Nothing else!

If you don't feel comfortable with an amnio.. this is totally up to you and your DH.

WE wanted to know for sure because of our age and what we would facing if anything had turned wrong.

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

JMHO. I wouldn't stress too much. I can tell you from working in the medical field, there is a large rate of falsely high results. If you have no history in your family, there is little need to worry. Also you stated yourself that you probably would not terminate if something was wrong so I would sit back and enjoy being pregnant.

Good luck!!!

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

you answered your own question...
Do not do it. You would not do anything about it so why torture yourself?
Bloodwork is false positives..I go to a high risk doc and he told me do not do the blood work--false positives-and even higher false positives with multiples.
your odds are good that they gave u! its still like a 99% chances theres nothing wrong.
Think of all the women that are too young where they do not have it and the baby has issues...Noone is told 100% nothing will be wrong.
Its in God's hands..your odds are good and I would not worry

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

If it was me I would get the amnio done.

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

I am 38 delivering at 39 and my ultrascreen came back 1:259. Now for someone my age, I thought that was good. My Dr told me that anything under 1:300 is recommended for an amnio. She said that my measurements of the babies head and everything else looked fine. It was my bloodwork and age factor that thru me under the 1:300. I could have opted for the amnio, or just wait til the Level II and see the more detailed measurements and everything then. I did that. I didnt want to go thru the amnio personally. It is truly a decision that only you can make. We talked about it and decided, for us, with the measurements being proper we would not go for it at that time. It turned out at the Level II that everything was measuring fine and there were no markers that they could find.
I havent had the baby yet, I am 30 weeks but I feel ok about not having the amnio.
Its a tough choice..

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

My ultrascreen came back wonderfully, yet my triplescreen came back with some red flags...we opted to have the quadscreen done and wait until that and the Level 2 were performed to make a decision....those both looked fine, so we discussed it with a perinatologist and he suggested that if we decided on the amnio we could wait until after 30 weeks (since we were not considering termination regardless of results), which he said would make some of the risks (pre-term labor) less of a concern...we opted not to do the amnio in the end...

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

i'm sorry - i don't know much about this but wanted to send you

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

my friend had an increased chance according to the ultrascreen - but they found out more info with the level II and it wasn't anything to worry about.

I would wait until at least the level II to make your decision.

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

Same exact thing happened to me! I was 32 when I did the u/s, and it came out higher than it shoud have - I think 1 in 217 when it should have been 1 in 400-something.

My dr. told me I can have the amnio if I wanted because of the blood results, but told me that honestly, she sees this all the time, and wouldn't worry. If the rest of the u/s looks fine, which it did, its pretty much ok... They check for other markers - especially when the blood comes out the way ours did....

I chose not to do the amnio. All of my sonos and everything else is testing perfectly - everything is looking ok...

don't worry!

Re: Ultrascreen - worried...advice?

Ladies, Thank you all for your and advice...

I felt a lot better after reading your posts and I talked to my husband last night. He agreed that we should go on the assumption that everything is fine and not risk the amnio. My friend also had told me that her Dr. told her when she was pregnant not to worry about doing the ultrascreen because of the false positive potential.

So, I feel better today and we're not going to do the amnio. If something shows up on the Level II, we'll deal with it then, but for now, we'll assume that all is well since the odds are in our favor..

Thank you again for all your support!