NIPT testing?

KidShrink

I just met with my GP who is starting my prenatal care until the OB picks it up. He offered me NIPT (panorama) testing which is a blood test done at 10 weeks to screen for a number of genetic and chromosomal anomalies, AND can tell you the sex of the baby as well. It does cost $550 (although I think our insurance would cover at least part of it). We really have no intention of arresting the pregnancy if we found out something was up, but that would allow us to be prepared and to know the sex of the baby early, just because we're curious. Has anyone done this test or even heard about it? I feel like none of my pregnant friends and family members ever mentionned this test, so I'm quite curious.

jeannaqueena

We did it!! I was in the same boat. We wouldn't have stopped the pregnancy either, but wanted to be prepared for the worst and it's reassuring to know SHE is healthy and a girl!! We had met our deductible and since I will be 35 at the time of her birth I got a different code so it was even cheaper and came out to $50 I think.

Good luck!!

KidShrink

Oh...so I found out that because the 'regular' testing is covered by the province we live in, then our private insurance doesn't cover it (or 3d ultrasound), so it'd be OOP. At this point, I'm thinking 'well what an extra $550?', but that's really all because I'm too curious to know the sex! Hmm...we'll see what DH says! But he got real curious when I told him we'd find out the sex early. Decisions, decisions...

Kelley421

We did a similar test to rule out genetic defects. It's pretty accurate and lots don't do an amnio to confirm because the accuracy is so great. Less invasive the better.
The gender is a nice extra, but I wouldn't pay OOP to find out a few weeks early. We received the results at the same appt as gender US.

LittleRocket

We did it instead of the amino-- no risk for the baby!

LittleRocket

Oh, & ours was mostly covered because we did a test before that which showed we were at an increased risk for downs.

kistra

The way my doctor explained it is that the NIPT are screening tests so they are supposed to pick up every baby that might possibly have one of the problems they test for. But in order to pick up every single one they also have some normal babies that will test positive. So if the test is normal then you can be really sure that your baby does not have the problems they test for, but if you get a positive you should still have amnio or CVS to verify. They have even found a few moms that have genetic issues with the tests that test for a bunch of things and not just extra/missing chromosomes. Since the test just looks at DNA in the blood it cannot tell the difference between mom's and baby's - the assumption is that mom is normal but that has not always turned out to be the case.

LittleRocket

They have good stats you can look at for both the positive and negative correlations. We did a lot of testing, research, appointments, etc. The genetic counselor helped us make sense of it all. We learned that the NT scan (the nucal translucency) in combination with the 1st trimester blood tests are definitely designed to catch all positive correlations-- meaning they are effective at finding anyone who might have an issue. They are not so good at the negative-- you might be swept up and need further testing to show everything is ok. The NIPT has a very high accuracy (over 98%) for both positive and negative correlations. But @kistra is right-- it's not fully diagnostic. You still have the small chance it's wrong. You can have an amnio or cvs, but those both have some risk factors for the baby. If you need to know with 100% certainty and feel comfortable with the risk, then an amnio or cvs can give you 100% certainty. If you are able to do screening tests that give you a high degree of accuracy with no risk, then your doctor can offer that, through various combinations. The order they have you do the tests if you want insurance to cover it will depend on your state, age, risk factors, insurance, etc. Hope this helps!