Harmony vs. MaterniT21

Upper West Side · September 2012

I posted last week about how NT screening came back with 1:205 Down Syndrome odds, which is very high for my age.

My doctor's office is offering me either Harmony or MaterniT21.

Any experience with either or thoughts on them? After doing research it seems like it's pretty much the same test but the Harmony gives you odds and the MaterniT21 gives you a positive or negative.

RockyTopVols · September 2012

I don't know anything about any of that. But looking at it from a mathematical point of view... why wouldn't you go with the one that is positive or negative? If the other one gives you odds, there is a chance it could be positive and there is a chance it could be negative.

Or the other test will tell you for sure positive or negative. Wouldn't you want to know?

Again, I don't know about either test and I am sure you will get tons of advice. I am just speaking from a statistics point of view.

junie216 · September 2012

RockyTopVols:
I don't know anything about any of that. But looking at it from a mathematical point of view... why wouldn't you go with the one that is positive or negative? If the other one gives you odds, there is a chance it could be positive and there is a chance it could be negative.

Or the other test will tell you for sure positive or negative. Wouldn't you want to know?

Again, I don't know about either test and I am sure you will get tons of advice. I am just speaking from a statistics point of view.

I'm really just going off base knowledge here, but I think the one that gives you odds lets you interpret the odds yourself and the one that gives you a pos/neg generally just interprets the odds for you (and you don't see the actual numbers). So if a 1/5 and a 1/30 are both positive, I would want to know if I got the 1/5 or 1/30.

Let me know if I'm wrong about this..... I just started researching it.

ETA: Your doctor's office should be able to explain the differences to you. If you find out, please let us know.

TX-Bride · September 2012

I don't have an answer to your question, couldn't your counsler or provider help you with that?

On the other note, you may also want to check with your insurance and find out which one is covered and how much.

Upper West Side · September 2012

junie216:
I'm really just going off base knowledge here, but I think the one that gives you odds lets you interpret the odds yourself and the one that gives you a pos/neg generally just interprets the odds for you (and you don't see the actual numbers). So if a 1/5 and a 1/30 are both positive, I would want to know if I got the 1/5 or 1/30.
Let me know if I'm wrong about this..... I just started researching it.
ETA: Your doctor's office should be able to explain the differences to you. If you find out, please let us know.

That's right, Junie. Both tests give you a positive and a negative result. It's just that the MaterniT21 says positive or negative and doesn't break down the odds for you. The Harmony also says whether the test is positive or negative, but it will tell you your odds. My midwife said that that Harmony test may be slightly more sensitive since they are able to break down the odds. Neither of the tests are 100% accurate, but they're both about 99%.

I actually just got back from the doctor's office. I just showed up without an appointment. I'm sure they loved that.

The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wanted to know the odds so I went with the Harmony. Like you said, if it's positive I want to know if it's 1:4 or 1:49 and if it's negative I want to know if it's 1:51 or 1:10,000.

Since the Harmony is so new in New York they weren't able to take my blood today, so I have to go back either tomorrow or Thursday depending on when my doctor receives approval.

ETA: regarding the difference between the tests, since both are so new to the states, no one in my doctor's office had much experience with them. It seems like the tests are pretty much the same in that they measure the amount of relative chromosomes in the blood. I have read that the MaterniT21 looks for the Y chromosome so you can find out the sex while the Harmony doesn't.

pinottoparenthood · September 2012

I don't have any experience with this, but I just wanted to send thoughts and prayers your way. I hope the test results are favorable for you.

Upper West Side · September 2012

pinottoparenthood:
I don't have any experience with this, but I just wanted to send thoughts and prayers your way. I hope the test results are favorable for you.

Thank you!

UnderwaterRhymes · September 2012

It looks like you've already made up your mind, but I had the MaterniT21 test a few weeks ago and was very pleased with our decision. Although they didn't tell us exact odds, they did say that they were about 1/10,000+ (which, since I've AMA, was a relief to hear).

We also know we're having a little boy, so that was fun to find out too.

rosebud12582 · September 2012

I don't have any experience with having to make that decision, but if it was me I would be feeling the same way that you do with needing to know the odds. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers and hope that everything comes back ok... Good luck.

jerseygirl81 · September 2012

I don't qualify for the MaterniT21 test, so I'm exploring the Harmony test. No one in my area has heard of either one.

LottaDrew · November 2012

I am also living in NYC and I am looking for a doctor who can refer me to the Harmony test. I am not insured and will have most of my prenatal care in Europe where it is free for me, but since this test is so new I will do it in New York. So basically I am looking for a doctor who knows about the test, and preferably one who could just give me the referal without a prenatal checkup that costs a lot of money. I am of course ready to pay for the test itself out of pocket.

MotherMayEye · November 2012

Upper West Side:
I posted last week about how NT screening came back with 1:205 Down Syndrome odds, which is very high for my age.
My doctor's office is offering me either Harmony or MaterniT21.
Any experience with either or thoughts on them? After doing research it seems like it's pretty much the same test but the Harmony gives you odds and the MaterniT21 gives you a positive or negative.

The MaterniT21 is 99.8% accurate on a negative DS result and something like 98.4% accurate on a positive DS result. And with the other Trisomies, it has specific accuracies. You would have to visit the Sequenom website for those.

Obviously, if you got a positive on DS, you would want to confirm with an amnio.

The MaterniT21 also give a 99.4% accurate gender result. The Harmony does not test for gender.

I have scoured the internet and found only one person who got a negative for DS from the MaterniT21 and went on to have a baby with DS. I have found several instances where people got a positive for DS and went on to have babies with no chromosomal abnormalities.

jerseygirl81 · November 2012

MotherMayEye:
Upper West Side:
I posted last week about how NT screening came back with 1:205 Down Syndrome odds, which is very high for my age. 
 My doctor's office is offering me either Harmony or MaterniT21.  
 Any experience with either or thoughts on them?  After doing research it seems like it's pretty much the same test but the Harmony gives you odds and the MaterniT21 gives you a positive or negative.  
 
The MaterniT21 is 99.8% accurate on a negative DS result and something like 98.4% accurate on a positive DS result. And with the other Trisomies, it has specific accuracies. You would have to visit the Sequenom website for those.
Obviously, if you got a positive on DS, you would want to confirm with an amnio.
The MaterniT21 also give a 99.4% accurate gender result. The Harmony does not test for gender.
I have scoured the internet and found only one person who got a negative for DS from the MaterniT21 and went on to have a baby with DS. I have found several instances where people got a positive for DS and went on to have babies with no chromosomal abnormalities.

Was that one case on a pregnancy site with a specific mt21 message board? If it's the same one I'm thinking of, they suspect she's BSing about it, anyway.

Both tests work on the same principle, analyzing freefloating fetal dna, they just have a slightly different way of going about it. We had the mt21 done and i was happy with it. I did the research and I'm confident in the negative results we got.

MotherMayEye · November 2012

jerseygirl81:
MotherMayEye:
Upper West Side:
I posted last week about how NT screening came back with 1:205 Down Syndrome odds, which is very high for my age.
My doctor's office is offering me either Harmony or MaterniT21.
Any experience with either or thoughts on them? After doing research it seems like it's pretty much the same test but the Harmony gives you odds and the MaterniT21 gives you a positive or negative.

The MaterniT21 is 99.8% accurate on a negative DS result and something like 98.4% accurate on a positive DS result. And with the other Trisomies, it has specific accuracies. You would have to visit the Sequenom website for those.
Obviously, if you got a positive on DS, you would want to confirm with an amnio.
The MaterniT21 also give a 99.4% accurate gender result. The Harmony does not test for gender.
I have scoured the internet and found only one person who got a negative for DS from the MaterniT21 and went on to have a baby with DS. I have found several instances where people got a positive for DS and went on to have babies with no chromosomal abnormalities.
Was that one case on a pregnancy site with a specific mt21 message board? If it's the same one I'm thinking of, they suspect she's BSing about it, anyway. Both tests work on the same principle, analyzing freefloating fetal dna, they just have a slightly different way of going about it. We had the mt21 done and i was happy with it. I did the research and I'm confident in the negative results we got.

YES. It was on the Babycenter MaterniT21 board. I did not read through the entire thread, though. So if she was called out for BS, I missed it.

But, despite that one instance I found, I was also happy with my decision to take the MaterniT21 test and also got negatives. It sounds like Sequenom errs on the side of giving a false-positive so getting a false-negative is very, very, very unlikely.

LottaDrew · November 2012

I have heard that Sequenom admitted themselves in a study that they caught 210 out of 212 DS cases in their first trial, but that after that they have changed the result they give to err even more on the false positive side. Haven't read anywhere about the BS false negative but I guess that could be another case maybe?

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