Amnio vs. CVS

[Anonymous]

I had my CVS done with Dr stern too! He is very friendly and has tremendous experience. My baby nuchal shows 3.99, It was pretty high. I was very nervous and had break down in the office. After 5 days(Thanksgiving weekend) waiting and the result showed normal. I just wish I didn't think too much during those time. If your baby had nuchal showed more than normal, please don't torture yourself and always think of good outcome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that the blood test have a VERY high false positive result.

I am not sure what you mean by this, as the blood test and NT scan combined do not give positives or negatives per say, but odds. So they can't tell you definitively whether the baby has a chromosomal disorder--just whether the odds are not great and you might want to consider further testing. I believe as far as the odds go, they're considered pretty accurate.

[Anonymous]

I just got through an arduous month+ of blood tests, crappy results, and then - finally! - good results on amnio. I am also 32 and have no family history of any genetic problems, etc. My first trimester screen results were so-so (slightly higher risk for Downs than for my age), and I missed the window for CVS (thanks to Christmas and New Years, slow results, being out of town, etc.) -- but wasn't sure I wanted CVS anyway given my so-so risk (low enough that my insurance wouldn't have covered it), although my husband and I were pretty sure we'd terminate if the baby had Downs. I had a sequential screen done at about 14 weeks, to "reassure" ourselves, which ended up coming back with much worse odds (1 in 90, which is still less than 2%), and then had amnio a few days later. Then a LONG three days of waiting for the initial "FISH" results and hoping not to miscarry, only for - finally - good news.

For my next pregnancy, I will do CVS without question. Waiting for over a month from the first trimester screen through the amnio results was awful. Maybe it wouldn't have been so awful if I'd known I was going to keep the baby either way -- hard to say. Knowing I had a potential 20-week abortion looming was really distressing on so many levels.

Given your travel plans, the fact that you don't yet have any reason to think you may be high-risk, and the fact that you want to keep the baby regardless of CVS/amnio results, I recommend that you see what your results are, and then if they aren't great, do a sequential screen. Those results may reassure you, or, like they did for me, indicate worse odds. Then you can decide whether you want amnio, which isn't that bad, or that risky.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ladies

I am from the UK - a Scot married to an Englishman!

I would just like to share my second pregnancy story to date. I am 37 yrs old and I was given odd of 1/15 of having baby with Downs. I went for CVS which came back INCONCLUSIVE. They say that for every 10 cells they looked at, around 4 contained a trisomy21 - which is termed a mosaicism. So therefore the inconclusive result. With full DS - ALL of the cells would have contained tri 21.

I am going for an amino in 2 weeks and am really worried about the outcome. Trying to stay positive that all is ok. They are also going to look at the babie's heart too, on the same day. Hopefully the tri 21 is only confined to the placental cells from the CVS.

Bit disappointed as was expecting a comprehensive result from the CVS. The inconclusvie result occurs in 1-2% of cases. HAs anyone else had a clear amnio after an inconclusive CVS?

Cheers for taking the time to read my post. Good luck to you all!

Mary

[Anonymous]

Not to be a downer but seriously consider the risks of the CVS/Amino. I was one of those folks who just had to know. I had my CVS with Dr. Stern at GIVF and it went fine and he was great. I miscarried. My peri doesn't KNOW that the CVS caused but says it may have. The results came back normal.

I'm now TTC again and will not be getting a CVS done despite my advanced maternal age (38). My peri recommended waiting until the 20 wk u/s and then deciding if an aminio is needed.

I just want folks to really consider what they're doing - I think the docs really push it.

[Anonymous]

I am very sorry for your loss, PP. Do you mind telling us the time between the CVS and when you miscarried?

[Anonymous]

I actually had a missed miscarriage - but they estimated the fetal demise at 12 1/2 weeks - I had the CVS at 11 weeks and a couple days. As I said they weren't sure of the cause but there was nothing else wrong with me or the baby.

[Anonymous]

To Mary - There is a post in the linked thread in which someone had mosaic results on the CVS, followed by normal amnio results. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/819.page#3330

Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what I understand, amnio results take a few weeks.

Not true. Like CVS, you get initial results in 2-3 days, with full results a week or so later. It is rare for initial results to come back "bad" and then full results "good."