Bloodwork results back...please give me your insight! **UPDATE**

Beckyboo71

I just got a call from the nurse at my doctor's office saying that my bloodwork came back positive for Down Syndrome, and I asked the ratio and she said 1:85. But she said that if my dates were off, it could trigger a false positive, and my doctor also told me before the test that my age (43) could trigger it as well. Then she said, "you had a good ultrasound though, right?" and I said yes....which, to me, sounded good. Have any of you had this happen? I know I have to take another test, the Panorama, I think, which has a lower false-positive rate. Please help ease my mind! Thanks! (I've posted this on other boards too, sorry if this is a repeat to some of you!)

**UPDATE: I call the call from my doctor today that everything is good...I am low-risk! And, we are having...a GIRL!!!! Thank you all for your support! I think I can finally try to enjoy this pregnancy now (but I do want to start feeling movement to reassure me!)

DenaMaree

Yikes, sorry your doctors office didn't give you a clearer picture. I have nothing to add, hope everything goes well with the panorama!

labgrand2012

While I didn't have an experience with T21, I did have one with T13. The test you did just evaluates your risk, you need to get a diagnostic test that will give you better readings. We did a few testings before we did the CVS and the numbers/percentages kept changing! They really were no help. I am sorry your nurse wasn't much help either. I would ask for a referral to a genetic counselor. Ours was so helpful and informative, and knew everything.

chicagojackie

Sounds like normal risk based on your age actually. From the march of dimes:

"At age 25, the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome is 1 in 1,250.
At age 30, the risk is 1 in 1,000.
At age 35, the risk is 1 in 400.
At age 40, the risk is 1 in 100.
At age 45, the risk is 1 in 30."

megbmeg

Honestly, 1 in 85 isn't very high of a risk. It is just enough to trigger the recommendation to get more testing if you want a more definitive answer. Your Panorama test should give you a much more accurate picture. I heard that test can take a couple of weeks, so try to be prepared for the wait. Hope you're doing well even though it can be hard to be left wondering!!

haleyusf

Nothing to add to what the others have said, but wanted to send ((hugs)). The waiting game can be so stressful.

Beckyboo71

5099peperk said:

While I didn't have an experience with T21, I did have one with T13. The test you did just evaluates your risk, you need to get a diagnostic test that will give you better readings. We did a few testings before we did the CVS and the numbers/percentages kept changing! They really were no help. I am sorry your nurse wasn't much help either. I would ask for a referral to a genetic counselor. Ours was so helpful and informative, and knew everything.

We will meet with the genetic counselor tomorrow at 9:30, then I'm assuming they will offer us the Panorama test at that point. Thanks ">

jenkellen

My doctor said if they first screen comes back with a "positive" they would then recommend a Panorama or similar test. That test is more accurate. Then after that test if they still get a positive that still DOES NOT mean you would have down syndrome. They can just tell you the risk profile and I think you could do an amnio if you chose to do so. My doctor explained that most positive blood results do not mean you would have down syndrome it's just giving you a risk profile.

Junebug060609

Lurking from PAL

Ditto pp regarding the "positive" thing. You came back with an elevated risk, not a positive. If I did the math right, there is a 98+% chance your baby DOESN'T have it. 84:85 babies with those same odds DON'T. That's how I had to look at it when my son had elevated risk.

My sons results came back with a 1:10 risk. No, that isn't a typo. He passed the ultrasound perfectly, but my blood work tanked the results. We ended up doing an amnio (this was before the fancy blood tests were available or I'd have been all over that option). He DOESN'T have it.

Yes, your child could be the "1", but chances are they aren't.

Ps. Find out why you got the elevated risk. For me it was my papp-a numbers were way off the norm. Come to find out along with that being indicative of T21, low papp-a also has a correlation with increased risk of developing pre-eclampsia later in pregnancy...which I did get with my son. Don't mean to scare you, but it turned out to help my ob to know those results.

Beckyboo71

jenkellen said:

My doctor said if they first screen comes back with a "positive" they would then recommend a Panorama or similar test. That test is more accurate. Then after that test if they still get a positive that still DOES NOT mean you would have down syndrome. They can just tell you the risk profile and I think you could do an amnio if you chose to do so. My doctor explained that most positive blood results do not mean you would have down syndrome it's just giving you a risk profile.

Yes, we learned all of this at our appt yesterday with the genetic counselor. So I ended up having the Panorama test, even though I was offered to skip that and do the amniocentesis. If this blood test comes back positive, at that point we will decide if we want to do the amnio (which I most likely will decline due to the risk, even as low as it is)