Maternal Serum Screening

I wasn't offered it at mine but asked about it. My mw had a look at my NT scan results and said I was a low risk. I could have it if I wanted it - decided not to bother.

I may be wrong but I think it is a test that you do pay for which is probably why they don't offer it up straight away.

Susiec not everyoneis offered the maternal serum testing. I had it done, and basically it does cost money, its simply a screening test and a personal choice. my mw suggeste dit because she trained in america where it was compulsary. I participated and did the testing as they are hoping that based on the results it might trigger for this testign to become compulsary in NZ. It tests for more than just downs, and although my downs results at 12 weeks were low risk, the maternal serum testing gave me an even better result, which put my mind at ease. The more people who participate the more likely it will become compulsary and free. From memory it costed me $75

I had it done in Sydney as it is routine at the place where I had my NT scan done, but here in NZ it is generally only offered to women with higher risk NT results, or who are over 35 or have a family history of chromosomal abnormalities.

Hence why I said "generally", all LMC's are different, and you also often find that if you have an OB as your LMC they are more likely to recommend antenatal screening than if you have a midwife as LMC.

The only screening test that is universal in NZ currently is the 18-20 week anatomy scan. In some areas the NT scan is also offered routinely, as is the 28 week polycose screen but in other areas if you are "low risk" you won't even be offered the NT scan. This differs between LMC's as well, but some DHB's don't fund for the NT scan/MSS for women in low risk groups so LMC's are not encouraged to offer them.

The important thing to remember with screening tests too is that they are not diagnostic, they provide risk ratio based on a number of factors, with the NT scan it is solely age and NT thickness, with the MSS it also takes into account maternal weight and levels of hormones in the blood. So it is possible to have a low-risk result and still have a baby with a chromosomal abnormality, or, even more likely, to have a high-risk result and a baby without chromosomal abnormality.

Sorry for the info overload, I just had a really interesting discussion with our OB consultant on staff here when I was editing the section he wrote for OHbaby! on antenatal screening and diagnostic testing.

I agree Mikki that anyting that is going to help identify potential problems earlier should be encouraged, once upon a time heel prick testing of newborns was brand new and not routine, and now years later it is routine and has identified so many potential problems and enabled them to be addressed much earlier than previously, so it's definitely worthwhile.

I personally can't see the MSS becoming routine here tho coz of the costs involved, and that there are certain groups of women who won't get an accurate result from it including those pregnant with multiples, as it affects the levels of hormones in the blood.