confused about NT scan

MrsLillyG · April 2014

I am supposed to have one at 12 weeks. I will also be getting blood work done at that appt. At 16 weeks I will have more blood work. My ob said after that appointment they will tell me all the results. I am just confused as to why I need the 16 week blood results to know the 12 week nt scan results. any thoughts? thanks.

MrsAdventure · April 2014

What sort of blood work are they doing?

MrsLillyG · April 2014

@MrsAdventure I am not sure. I should I have asked. I know that the bloodwork I had done this week (10) is testing for stds, some viruses and some genetic testing (i.e. cistric fibrosis)

SweetMelissa5 · April 2014

Did you ask your doctor? I've had the NT scan three times so far, and I've never gotten additional bloodwork a few weeks later, so I can't help you, but your doctor should be able to answer any questions you have about the testing/screening she's sending you for.

Carebella · April 2014

I'm guessing the 16w blood test is not related to the NT scan and you should get two sets of results. Or it could be they compare the results between the two blood tests to give you the numbers. The best bet to figure out exactly what is going on would be to call your ob/mw for clarification.

Sidenote, we had our NT with bloodwork on a Thursday and got our results on Monday.

MrsAdventure · April 2014

Definitely call your doc. if your curious. I've never had/heard of blood work in addition to an NT scan (other then testing for genetic issues). Maybe the 16 week blood work is unrelated?

shan24 · April 2014

So....I had my first appointment and that whole thing was explained to me today.

What they told me was this: They do bloodwork during the first trimester (on top of normal first trimester bloodwork) to look for genetic markers indicating chromosomal abnormalities. Then they do the NT scan. Then, they do a second round of bloodwork during the second trimester to look again for genetic markers. All three tests TOGETHER can give a 95% accuracy reading for identifying high or low risk. The nurse told me today that only having one round of bloodwork drops the accuracy to 70%, I think.

So, I have my NT scan and first round of bloodwork next week and then I go again at the end of May for my second round of bloodwork.

DoubleUp8 · April 2014

I had my blood taken for the NT blood work the same day as the scan (the doctor said the blood had to be drawn the same day as the scan). I will have additional blood drawn for the second tri prenatal testing my doctor done at my 16 week appointment. I am going to agree with @Carebella that the 16 weeks blood work is probably not related to your NT scan.

mrsransom · April 2014

That's exactly what I have to do. I have my NT scan in 2 weeks along with bloodwork, & then they will do more bloodwork at a later time (I think my 20 week appointment) & combine all 3 things for the best results.

abbyful · April 2014

Is the 16 week test maybe the triple-screen(AFP)/quad-screen?

lizgrace03 · April 2014

shan24 said:

So....I had my first appointment and that whole thing was explained to me today.

What they told me was this: They do bloodwork during the first trimester (on top of normal first trimester bloodwork) to look for genetic markers indicating chromosomal abnormalities. Then they do the NT scan. Then, they do a second round of bloodwork during the second trimester to look again for genetic markers. All three tests TOGETHER can give a 95% accuracy reading for identifying high or low risk. The nurse told me today that only having one round of bloodwork drops the accuracy to 70%, I think.

So, I have my NT scan and first round of bloodwork next week and then I go again at the end of May for my second round of bloodwork.

Yep, this is the same thing I was told by my doctor. I had the scan and first round of bloodwork yesterday, and then will have followup bloodwork in a month. After that, we get the full results. When they do the initial scan, you should be able to see some initial visual markers that could indicate Down Syndrome like lack of a nasal bone and/or large NT measurement. But then when they combine that with the two blood samples, it's a very comprehensive result.

harmonicbabe26 · April 2014

At 12 weeks they run the fist round of blood work and at 16w I think it's called a quad screen, which confirms the earlier results of the NT/blood work from 12 weeks. You should get reaults of the NT on the same day and related bloodwork within a week i think.
16w bloodwork confirms results.
At least this is how i understand it.

brooklyngirl18 · April 2014

I have my nt scan tomorrow and my dr had me move my next appointment bc she said she had to wait a certain amount of time between the nt test and the next round of bloodwork she is doing. for some reason my appointment schedule got messed up so i pushed it back 2 weeks to get back on track. i'll update tomorrow after the nt scan and see what they say about the follow up blood work.

dr_pr · April 2014

lizgrace03 said:

shan24 said:

So....I had my first appointment and that whole thing was explained to me today.

What they told me was this: They do bloodwork during the first trimester (on top of normal first trimester bloodwork) to look for genetic markers indicating chromosomal abnormalities. Then they do the NT scan. Then, they do a second round of bloodwork during the second trimester to look again for genetic markers. All three tests TOGETHER can give a 95% accuracy reading for identifying high or low risk. The nurse told me today that only having one round of bloodwork drops the accuracy to 70%, I think.

So, I have my NT scan and first round of bloodwork next week and then I go again at the end of May for my second round of bloodwork.

Yep, this is the same thing I was told by my doctor. I had the scan and first round of bloodwork yesterday, and then will have followup bloodwork in a month. After that, we get the full results. When they do the initial scan, you should be able to see some initial visual markers that could indicate Down Syndrome like lack of a nasal bone and/or large NT measurement. But then when they combine that with the two blood samples, it's a very comprehensive result.

What they said! You're having the NT scan, but also the quad screen (the 2 blood draws). Together, they'll give you results with 95% accuracy. My doctor explained the quad screen looks for changes in hormone levels that can indicate chromosomal abnormalities.

MrsDL · April 2014

The quad which can be done in the 2nd trimester adds to the accuracy of the NT, but also helps detect neural tube defects which cannot be detected by the 1st tri screen (except if it's something very noticeable they can see on ultrasound like anencephaly). With DS, I had my blood drawn before the NT and received the results that day. Then I had the quad done at 16 weeks and they just called and said it was negative for risk of neural tube defects.

strujillo84 · April 2014

Okay so an NT is just blood work and ultrasound, right? Sorry to hijack, but just found out I will be sent to get one in the town over in a few weeks because of family history. Which by the way, is very intresting that I've had the same family history with my first 2 but for whatever reason they see worry in it now.

confused about NT scan

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