elevated inhibin & hcg in second trimester? (Quad screen)

koiviolet

Hello everyone- I?m new here and looking to find others who have experienced what I?m going through right now. 

 

At 15 weeks (singleton pregnancy), I had my blood draw for my quad screen.  My Down?s risk wasn?t positive (my odds were 1:455), but the genetic counselor mentioned that two of the hormones were elevated.  My HcG was slightly over 3X the normal level, and my inhibin was slightly over 2X the normal level.  The counselor said this could be related to a placental abnormality.  I looked it up on Medline and found that high levels of these hormones are correlated with intrauterine growth restriction (small for gestational age), pre-eclampsia, fetal loss, still birth, and other placental problems.

 

 I?m very upset now (and probably never should have done any of my own research).  Has anyone experienced this?  I?m wishing I had never done the quad screen, as it is possible that the anxiety it has caused may be worse than its predictive value of any of the disorders I?ve mentioned.  I have not heard back from my OB yet.

 

Thank you!

itsmevkb

I haven't had experience with this but I think that Schmoodle on the success after infertility board may have if you want to page her over there and ask.  I hesitated to post this since she lost her twins but thought perhaps she could give you some information.  I'm really sorry you're going through this and that your OB can give you some good information.

spillthemoment

Hello,

I don't mean to scare you but would just like to give you some idea of what to ask your dr. about.

With my first pregnancy my HCG was 5x the normal level at 16 weeks.  My dr. didn't think much to mention it, as the other results had come back normal (I didn't see the actually report stating that this could be a sign of adverse consequences until after I asked for my medical records.)  My son was stillborn at 21 weeks.  He was a lot smaller than he should have been.  There were lots of problems with the placenta, lots of blood clotting.  The cord was also inserted marginally into the placenta (velamentous insertion.)

If it were me getting these results back I would ask for a detailed ultrasound to make sure that everything is ok (not sure what could have been done if it had been caught earlier).  Even though my results were normal with this pregnancy my dr's did a detailed ultrasound at 19 weeks checking the placenta, cord/cord placement, and also the blood flow in my uterus, between the uterus/placenta, placenta/cord, cord/baby, etc. 

I hope that everything goes well with your pregnancy!