What are your thoughts on the AFP/quad screen?

showcow

So ladies what are they I have until Dec. 30 to get this done and am trying to make this decision and have reasons on both sides to do or not do. What are you doing or have done?

Princess_Lily

Is this the same as the NT scan?  The one sonogram and two blood tests?  Please let me know, so I may respond.

Mumma2B

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

 

lailak42

I didn't do any genetic testing myself.  We didn't with DS, either.  However, I do know that my doc said the quad screen is only 72% accurate and has a high rate of false positives.

shertom

they are blood tests that will assess your risk for having a child with Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and Spina Bifida.  I had these done (the quad screen), but I know people who opt out because there are many false "abnormal" results which of course cause stress.

Kaar17

Mumma2B:

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

 

 

Ditto

CrazyCurls

I'm doing something at my 16w appt a week from Friday. I figure as long as it's my blood I'm fine but doing something more invasive will require A LOT more thought

minditronic

Mumma2B:

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

Ditto!

mommiella

I had the NT and quad screens with both pregnancies. I would much rather know than not. If a problem was identified, I'd rather have time to process that and get informed.

AshleyKass

I didn't have it done.  Like pp said, i'm not high risk and I worry enough as it is.

FiremansWife2009baby

We have opted not to do it. DH and I discussed what we would do, if anything, if we got some less than perfect news. We decided that we wouldn't terminate for any reason - and didn't want to have a # stuck in our head to make us worry or stress for no 100% chance it was correct.

We are going to do our big u/s on the 22nd, and have until the 31st to do the AFP. If things don't look 100% on the u/s, then we still have time to do the screening if we chose to.

cotner

I had it done the last time and will again this time.  DH had a brother born without a skull.  He lived for 36 hours.  For me the test is to ease my mind and prepare if, God forbid, I need to.

rouge411

Mumma2B:

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

 

Same here. Plus I asked my doctor if anything could be done for the baby if we found out that something was wrong (surgery in-utero to correct spina bifida, etc.) and he said no.

NDwife07

KimL22:

My doctor basically talked me out of it!  She asked if I did the test and had to have further testing, if I would want the amniocentisis.  I said no, I wouldn't take it that far.  So then she was basically like, well why do it at all?  Why worry yourself if it does happen to come back with a positive, false or not.

I was like, well ok then!

Ditto! The false positive rate was another factor for me. When making choices like this, DH and I always play the "what if/worst case" game. We basically chose the lesser of two evils (IMO) in this case. But honestly, I can see both sides and would never ever try to convince someone of my side.

Tiffany Boyd

Mumma2B:

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

 

 

That was my reasoning for not getting it as well.

toospooky

Mumma2B:

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

 

 Same for me.

mrsjazzsinger

Mumma2B:

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

 

I also ditto this, well said!

Mrs.Greeko

Not doing any additional testing and didn't last time either.  Those tests have notoriously high false positives and I assume everything is fine with my baby (most babies are born fine!) until I'm proven otherwise at birth. 

velvetflip

I had the AFP screen done along with my amnio. ?I am 35 and these are routine for my age and older. I would recommend going for any test that is offered, the more you know the better armed you'll be to deal with any potential issues.

Phelia325

I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about....but I had the NT screen at 12 weeks then i followed that with a AFB blood test at 15 weeks, which would screen for spina bifida among other things.  I should get the results today.  Yes, i'm nervous.  I'm not sure that I would go through all of the screening tests for a future pg.  This is my first and I took a "need to know" attitude.  Regardless of what the outcome, I need to know and be prepared.

DaisyAdair

The traditional quad screen has a really high rate of being wrong and scaring the crap out of people.

However, the integrated screen with a u/s and blood draw in the 1st tri and another blood draw in the 2nd tri (around 15/16wks) only has a 3% rate of giving false high odds. 

So, I opt out of the quad screen and have the integrated screen done.  I had the u/s and 1st blood draw at around 12wks and I'm having the 2nd draw next week.  Then, I'll get my "odds".  The u/s looked good for the purposes of the screen, but also alerted my OB to the contractions I'm having and got me sentenced to bedrest and u/s and cervix checks every 2wks. 

The traditional quad screen NEVER would have revealed that....if I even made it that far in the pregnancy given the fact that the contractions are changing my cervix. 

 

MarriedBestFriends

I have done any and all testing- including massive genetic testing. I'm not a big fan of the "I wouldn't terminate anyway" excuse, because I believe that even if that's your decision in the end, knowledge is still power. Maybe it wouldn't change your decision on whether to continue the pregnancy, but perhaps it *would* change your prenatal care options, or your delivery tactics, or the people surrounding you at the delivery (NICU/peri specialists, etc.). It would also prepare you mentally for what will happen after a special-needs baby is born and allow you time to do research and best prepare. There are many other reasons that I feel that screenings are important to do, but I can quit there. The "false positives" discussion is also somewhat misleading as the quad screen's results are given as a ratio (for instance I had a 1:10,000 risk of downs or trisomy and a 1:6000 risk of spina bifida after the Quad was coupled with my NT scan results).

Princess_Lily

Oh, personally, we did that test.

Now unless we we're recommended for further testing (an amnio / which we weren't) DH and I don't see the need to test further.  Our friends had a recommendation to do an amnio and everything turned out fine.

shihtzu51

The quad screen has a 5% screen positive rate - meaning that 5% of the people that get the test will be reported as "positive" - generally meaning a risk of more than 1:200.  Most of those will be "false" positives - meaning no Down's Syndrome.  The AFP part of the test looks for neural tube defects - sometimes it can come up elevated without there being a neural tube defect but can indicate a risk of other pregnancy complications later on, like preterm delivery.  Everyone has a risk of Down's syndrome - it's lower the younger you are, but the test can tell you if your risk is higher or lower than just the risk based on age alone.  Hope that helps!

VAannie

Mumma2B:

I ruled it out based on the following:

1) I worry WAY too much for the good of my health

2) I am not high risk

3) There are too many chances of false positives (see #1)

4) Regardless of what I found out I would not terminate the pregnancy

 

Ditto.

Knot Heather

The NT scan and the bloodwork that goes along with the NT scan gave us enough information to make the decision *not* to move forward with the AFP/quad screen.

My doctor reviewed the NT results with us, and even though I am 34, my results came back as that of a 20 year old person.  He said that this test is far more accurate than the AFP/quad screen, and because my risk is so low, there was no real need to test further especially given the high rate of false-positives.

He also said the only thing the AFP/quad screen would tell me that we didn't already know was anything related to spinal bifida problems, which were also a very low chance of happening as I've been on prenatals even before we conceived, and something that they wouldn't be able to do anything about anyway.

We'll be able to see more at the 20 wk ultrasound, so we decided to not do the AFP/quad screen testing.

Jen748

We did the integrated testing with the blood draw in the first trimester and a sono and a second testing in the second trimester.

I am a big fan of knowledge...having the knowledge can't be a bad thing. If something was found, we could make our decision...if nothing else so we could be prepared for what might happen in the child's life.

ChiBride2007

We did the NT (blood and u/s) for precisely the opposite reason most other people gave. I knew I would worry without the test. For me, the odds were in our favor that we would screen negative, so I wanted to have it done so I could breathe easier. Stupid LabCorp ended up doing the AFP too (which they shouldn't have because it was too early in the pregnancy to get accurate results) so I ended up having the AFP blood test done by itself several weeks later to again put my mind at ease. All screened negative.

You can't 'test positive' with these really. They are not diagnostic tests, so a 'screen positive' simply means that further testing is required. You don't have to have an amnio (we wouldn't have - too high risk with twins) but you can have a higher level u/s. And, knowledge is power. I wouldn't want to be surprised in the delivery room with information that I could have had months before.