Quad Screen?

mermaidylady · September 2016

At my first appointment with my OB, she told me about how they do a quad screen blood test around 16 weeks. I don't remember doing this test when I was pregnant with DS (I had a different OB then and I don't recall talking about it with her), but my current OB was pretty insistent on saying every expecting mother should have the test. I'm just wondering if anyone has declined the test or plans to? I'm 12 weeks now so I still have time to think on it, but I guess it's not uncommon to get a false positive on this test. I just don't know if that's worth the additional stress.

kjd291 · September 2016

I have passed on all testing. -ETA- doing the anatomy scan, and I believe this will show any complications or issues that docs should know about to aid in delivery of a babe if there are any.

kiyamurph · September 2016

I did the Harmony test, so will be skipping any additional tests. I am doing the anatomy scan in a few weeks just to see baby and to make sure all structures are developing as they should.

nursemama-2 · September 2016

Lots of people don't do it. I chose to do prenatal screening though.

sunshine507 · September 2016

I'm doing it, but wanted to say my OB recommends the quad screen not alone but as one part of a "sequential screen," which is the nuchal ultrasound and a blood test around week 12, plus a quad later. They combine all 3 results which gives an overall detection rate of 90% with a false positive rate of less than 4%- it's still a screening test, not a diagnostic test.
Quad screen alone has an overall detection rate of 85% for downs, with a false positive rate of 7%.

That said, my OB dismissed the Harmony/MaterniT tests for me and I went with it, but now I'm wishing I'd read more about them earlier.

chrlyr · September 2016

They tested for AFP with my first tri blood work, which is typically part of the quad screen. I know there are a couple others they test for in addition to that and hcg. My OB mentioned that he recommends the quad screen for all AMA patients, so we'll be doing it. We didn't do any testing at all with DS because my previous OB said it wasn't worth it if we weren't going to terminate if the baby had Down Syndrome. I went with it at the time, but that was really an over-simplification. I would probably test if I had it to do over again.

Liss_37 · September 2016

I chose not to do any screening tests.. many women opt out of it, but do what feels best for you!

shilarys · September 2016

Just as my last pregnancy with DD, we chose not to have any tests done. It wouldn't change the outcome and I feel I would only worry more if they started throwing percentages in my face.

kap1988 · September 2016

I'm not having any testing done, except the anatomy scan if that counts. I am 27 and we probably wouldn't terminate if something were to come up. And there are way too many false positives in these tests for me to trust them. I might reconsider and look into it further if down the road I were pregnant over the age of 35.

pandalily · September 2016

We asked my OB about the NIPT and she kinda talked us out of it and opted to do the quad screen instead which seems to be something they do as a standard. At the very least she recommended the quad over NIPT because she said it was supposed to be more accurate as it was diagnostic not risk assessment, was covered on insurance, and also looks at neural tube defects which NIPT does not. Perhaps she didn't say it was diagnostic but maybe I'm just thinking that? In any case the risk of having to pay a ton out of pocket for the NIPT when it tests for almost the same stuff didn't seem worth it for us so we will just do the quad at my next visit at 16 weeks.

MauiQuickie · September 2016

I did it last time but I declined it this time. It's up to you. I figured I would wait until the anatomy scan and they'll be able to tell me if anything major is wrong. It would change our outcome either though, so I feel like I'm avoiding unnecessary stress from possible false positives.

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