When can the first trimester blood test be done?
The blood test must be taken after 10 weeks and before 14 weeks of gestation (at the border of the first and second trimesters). If you have your blood taken before your nuchal translucency test, your ultrasound specialist will have your blood result at the rooms and will be able to give you your final risk assessment at that appointment. Otherwise, you can have your blood taken on the day of your nuchal translucency measurement and we will send your results to your doctor the following working day.

Where can I have blood taken?
Your blood can be collected by your doctor or any collection centre of Symbion Health. or, by special arrangement, at other pathology centres.

What does it mean if I get a high-risk result?
A high risk result is not a cause for alarm. The most likely thing is that the baby is normal. The result of the screening test merely suggests that a chromosome study would be a sensible precaution. When fetal chromosome studies are recommended on the basis of the screening test, in only about five percent of those pregnancies is the fetus found to have Down syndrome. A “high risk” result therefore does not mean that the fetus has Down syndrome; in about ninety- five percent of cases the chromosome study is normal. Screening for Down syndrome is capable of detecting about 90% of fetuses with Down syndrome, leaving about 10% undetected.

What does it mean if I get a low-risk result?
A low risk result does not mean that the fetus does not have Down syndrome. Because this is a screening test, the combined biochemical/blood test will not detect approximately 10% of Down syndrome pregnancies. The diagnostic test for Down syndrome is a fetal chromosome study. Nearly always, the study is done on either a sample of the placenta (afterbirth), which is called chorion villus sampling (CVS), or on a sample of the amniotic fluid. (see prenatal chromosome testing).