Obstetrics relates to pregnancy, childbirth, and the post delivery period, as a medical specialty. Our services cover consultation on all complex pregnancy related conditions and treatment offered to women is quality and evidence based and has been sharply refined by the vast training and the world class international working experience
• Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome number 21 in the cells of the developing baby.
• Down syndrome is always associated with mental retardation and is often associated with physical problems such as heart defects and difficulties with sight and hearing.
• It is not possible to assess the degree of handicap before the baby is born.
• About nine out of 10 babies with Down syndrome will survive their first year, and nearly half of these will reach 60 years of age.
• In an unscreened population, about one in every 700 babies is born with Down syndrome. Usually it is not inherited, so a baby can be affected even if there is no history of Down syndrome in the family.
• Although Down syndrome occurs more frequently as mothers get older, about 70 percent of babies with Down syndrome are born to women who are younger than 35 years old.
• The First Trimester Test is performed between 10 and 13 completed weeks of pregnancy to screen for Down syndrome.
• It combines information from an ultrasound examination of your baby with maternal blood analysis.
• It is suitable for women of all ages. It is a screening test and cannot determine definitely whether or not a baby has Down syndrome.
• The test identifies those women who have an increased risk of Down syndrome pregnancy so that they can be offered a diagnostic test (such as chorionic villus sampling). The diagnostic test identifies women who actually have an affected pregnancy.
• A sample of your blood is taken between 10 and 13 weeks of pregnancy.
• At the same time, an ultrasound scan is performed. Substances in your blood which are markers of Down syndrome and a specific ultrasound marker will be measured. The blood markers are pregnancy associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and human chorionic gonadotropin (free beta-hCG).
• The ultrasound marker is nuchal translucency (NT) thickness. In pregnancies with Down syndrome, PAPP-A tends to be low, and NT and HCG tend to be raised.
• The values of these markers are used together with your age to estimate the risk of having a pregnancy affected with Down syndrome.
• A risk is the chance of an event occurring. For example, a risk of Down syndrome of one in 100 means that if 100 women have this risk, we expect that one of these women will have a baby with Down syndrome and that 99 will not. This is the same as saying that the baby has a 1 percent chance of having Down syndrome and a 99 percent chance that it does not.
• A screen positive result means that you are in a high risk group for having a baby with Down syndrome.
• If you are in this group, you will be offered a diagnostic test.
• The result is screen positive if the risk of Down syndrome in the first trimester is one in 230 or greater.
• About one in every 20 women screened will be in this group. Most women with screen positive results do not have a pregnancy with Down syndrome. For example, of about 50 women with screen positive results for Down syndrome, only one would have an affected pregnancy.
• A screen positive result means that you are in a group with an increased risk of having a baby with an open neural tube defect.
• If the result is screen positive, you will be offered an ultrasound examination after 16 weeks of pregnancy, and possibly an amniocentesis.
• The result is screen positive when the AFP level is equal to or higher than two times the normal level for your stage of pregnancy.
• If the risk of Down syndrome based on the First Trimester Test is lower than one in 230, then the result is called screen negative, and a diagnostic test is usually not offered.
• If the risk of Down syndrome based on the Integrated Test is lower than one in 110, and the AFP level is less than two times the normal level for your stage of pregnancy, then the result is called screen negative, and a diagnostic test is usually not offered.
• Although a screen negative result means that your risk of having a baby with Down syndrome is not high, a screen negative result cannot rule out the possibility of a pregnancy with Down syndrome.
• No. About eight or nine out of 10 cases of Down syndrome are detected (classified as screen positive). This means that one or two out of 10 pregnancies with Down syndrome are missed (classified as screen negative). With the Integrated Test, about four out of five cases of spina bifida are detected, and one out of five is missed. Nearly all cases of anencephaly are detected.
• It is uncommon for a woman to have a baby with Down syndrome or an open neural tube defect, and it is even more uncommon for a woman with a screen negative result, but it does sometimes happen. This is because the screening test cannot completely distinguish affected from unaffected pregnancies. However small the risk is, the test cannot completely rule out the possibility of the baby having Down syndrome or open neural tube defect.
• Any woman may have a baby with Down syndrome, but the chance increases as a woman gets older.
• Therefore, we use age as one of the factors when assessing your risk of having a pregnancy with Down syndrome.
• It means that an older woman is more likely to have a result in the higher risk group (screen positive) and will therefore be offered a diagnostic test.
• For example, for women under the age of 35 about 4 percent will be screen positive, while in women who are 35 or older about 15 percent will be screen positive.
• Overall, about 5 percent of women will be screen positive, and about 85 percent of Down syndrome pregnancies will be identified with the First Trimester Test. Overall, about 1 percent of women will be screen positive with the Integrated Test.
• If the test is screen positive, you will be offered a diagnostic test, usually chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or possibly an amniocentesis.
• The diagnostic test will determine whether or not the pregnancy is actually affected.
• CVS is offered early in pregnancy (usually between 10 and 13 weeks). It involves taking a sample of placental tissue (using local anaesthetic) either by inserting a needle through your abdominal wall or by passing a fine instrument through the cervix.
• CVS is performed under the guidance of an ultrasound scan and does not involve a stay in the hospital. The CVS sample contains cells which can be used to tell whether or not the baby has Down syndrome.
• A result is usually ready within one to two weeks. There is a small risk associated with the CVS procedure. About 1 percent of women who have CVS will have a miscarriage as a result of the procedure.
• It depends on your particular result. If the test is screen positive for Down syndrome or at increased risk for trisomy 18 , an amniocentesis procedure will be offered, sometimes accompanied by a detailed ultrasound examination.
• If the test is screen positive for open neural tube defects, a targeted ultrasound examination is most commonly offered, although an amniocentesis is often suggested as well.
• An amniocentesis is a procedure in which the doctor obtains a small sample of fluid that surrounds the developing baby by passing a fine needle through the abdominal wall and into the uterus, under the guidance of an ultrasound scan.
• The sample is then sent for laboratory testing. This fluid sample can be used to diagnose chromosome problems like Down syndrome and trisomy 18.
• An amniocentesis is an invasive procedure, which means that there is a small risk of miscarriage (about one in 200) associated with it.
• Results of the test for Down syndrome and trisomy 18 usually take one to two weeks. A rapid technique for the diagnosis of Down syndrome and trisomy 18, fluorescence in situ hybridization (or FISH), is available at Women & Infants. FISH results usually take two days. Results for the test for open neural tube defects usually take five to seven days.
A genetic counselor will be available to discuss your baby's diagnosis in detail and options available to you. One option would be to continue the pregnancy and make arrangements for appropriate medical services at and after delivery. Placing the infant for adoption after birth can also be considered. Another option would be termination of pregnancy
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