nt scan??

pixiem38

Sorry again for asking a zillion questions. I am in such unchartered territory right now. At my ob appointment he talked about my history and all that prior to.doing the exam (and discovering the twins). He mentioned a quad screen, but i don't think he said anything about nt scan. At the time, i was pretty sure that despite my age (39) i would be declining all the testing. He did not push the issue, nor did he mention it again after the exam (in fact after the exam i got dressed an left...no additional q&a). Now i am thinking that i may want to get a nt scan, not necessarily for the genetic issue marker things, but just to have an earlier visual record of what is currently.going on. I have seen twin moms posting about nt scans, so.i know they are done. Are the results skewed somehow? Can i just call the office and say that i want one, even though he never mentioned it (my dr for my other pregnancies was a family practictioner, and i never had any testing/screenjng other than a/s so the whole ob/higher risk thing is all new to me and i really.don't know what the normal procedure is). Sorry for all my ridiculous questions....i feel like a first time pregnant person and it seems like internet twin pregnancy info is few and.far between). Tia!!

crystaleyes39

We opted not to have the NT scan. I know someone who had it and they were told their daughter was going to have downs and she turned out completely fine! My u/s tech. also had been doing them for over 30 years and told me she could easily eye if it looked like there were any issues just from my anatomy scan and would push me to get it if she thought there was something that needed further checking. I trusted her and sure enough thankfully we were okay.  My OB also had told me she always tells people if you were to find out something was wrong and it wouldnt' change anything or you wouldn't do anything different than don't do it.

I think everyone has different views on it but for me personally twins are already high risk and I didn't want to add any extra stress or worry.

mamak0328

crystaleyes39:

We opted not to have the NT scan. I know someone who had it and they were told their daughter was going to have downs and she turned out completely fine! 

I think everyone has different views on it but for me personally twins are already high risk and I didn't want to add any extra stress or worry.

 

All of this for me.   

LadyNikon

We had the NT Scan with blood work.  I was 34 when the twins were conceived and am now 35.  There is no medical history in my family of downs and really no genetic anomalies besides we are all a bunch of loons.  They are not 100% accurate.  I took it as a chance to know if there is a chance my kids could come out with something that needed more attention we wouldn't be blind sided.  I think you can call the office and request one.  It may not be too late.  I didn't have mine until week 13.  I did ask how would they determine which twin was which and she said it can be pulled from the blood.  I don't know how accurate that info is though.  

ShopperKristi

I had both the NT scan and the quad screen done - the quad screen freaked me out because it came back with a 'slightly elevated' AFP level so I had to go have a Level II U/S (everything turned out fine).  I guess in the end I was glad to know things were ok but there was quite a bit of unnecessary stress associated with that for me.  My advice, if you do decide to have both or one done, don't get really worried or stressed over the initial results because (esp. w/the quad screen) they can be off with multiples. 

Rynleigh

It's a pretty personal choice. 

I'm not high risk (other than having twins... but they're di/di, so we're even low risk for that!), but I chose to have both the bloodwork and the NT scan performed because I have high anxiety, and control is my first preventative step in avoiding anxiety attacks. By being able to have reassurance that some things are less likely for my babies, and having the opportunity to know well in advance if I might need to prepare for certain health problems, it puts me at much greater ease. Refusing the tests and ignoring whether greater risks exists for us or not feels like hiding under the covers hoping that no bad guys come get me, verses keeping my eyes and ears open and aware in the event of something bad happening.  

If you were to decide that you want to do it - for any reason - you will want to call your clinic as soon as possible, because they try to do it between weeks 9 and 13 - so you'd only have a couple of weeks left to get an appointment for it. 

chickaboo1974

I had the NT Scan- it has to be done between 11-13 weeks. It is NOT a test that will give you a diagnosis- it is more of a tool with odds given based on your age.  If there is troubling results then you can have a amnio to get a definate diagnosis.

It is a simple ultrasound with some bloodwork- nothing to get worked up over.  My results can back in the normal range for my age- I was pleased with this.  I had mine done at my MFM's office.

amd1982

I had the scan done during week 12. I told my OB I wanted it done, and they referred me to the local MFM office. However, I did not get bloodwork. My MFM office said that bloodwork will not determine which twin would be affected with, let's say, Trisonomy (sp?) but would help with downs. Unfortunately, many of the numbers can be skewed and elevated with twins (at least that is how they explained it).

Basically I went on how my specialist viewed my actual scan. Her response to the babies was "everything looks normal, spine, neck folds, etc." For me, that was enough to ease my mind without worrying about waiting for bloodwork and then having to panic about there possibly being an issue even if everything worked out ok. So that was my perspective.

I've learned everyone is different, and there are a lot of opinions out there even when it comes to what doctors say to patients. My thought process was if there was anything abnormal about the NT scan, I would have pushed for a more thorough testing process. However my MFM said that unless I opted for amnio (which I am against since I am not AMA) there is no way to be 100% sure. Good luck!

erinruns

With ID's, definitely do the NT scan, if for no other reason than generally an MFM will look at the scan and an experienced tech will do it.  That was when we first saw the membrane (and even then, had to do a transvaginal to see it) and got our first indications that there were growth discrepancies and scheduled an early Level 2.

pixiem38

erinruns:

With ID's, definitely do the NT scan, if for no other reason than generally an MFM will look at the scan and an experienced tech will do it.  That was when we first saw the membrane (and even then, had to do a transvaginal to see it) and got our first indications that there were growth discrepancies and scheduled an early Level 2.

Thank you! That is what i was looking to see. I remember seeing some other completely different justification for it, but i couldn't find it again and also couldn't recall the details. I am way more worried about the fact that they are likely identical (and all the possible complications with that) than about genetic stuff (while i AM ama at 39, my ds is only 15 months old and i figure this winning egg is only two years older than his egg was). Thank.you for all your responses!