It is necessary for women to go to the hospital for prenatal check ups on time after pregnancy. Through various examinations, we can understand the development of the fetus in the mother's womb. One of the prenatal check ups is Down syndrome screening, which is relatively unfamiliar to women who are pregnant for the first time. So what does the Down syndrome test mean?
Down syndrome is an incidental disease, and children with Down syndrome may experience severe intellectual disabilities, as well as other problems such as leukemia, congenital heart disease, digestive tract abnormalities, etc. Every pregnant woman is likely to be pregnant with a Down child, and the incidence rate will increase with the age of the pregnant woman.
There are no effective prevention or treatment methods for this disease in medicine, and it can only be detected early through prenatal screening and diagnosis. If it is found that the pregnancy is Down syndrome, the doctor will recommend terminating the pregnancy. If we continue to be serious, it may have a significant impact on our future lives.
Doing Down syndrome screening is relatively simple, only requiring a blood test. By detecting the concentrations of alpha fetoprotein, chorionic gonadotropin, and free estriol in maternal serum, combined with the age, weight, gestational age, and expected delivery date of the pregnant woman, the probability of Down syndrome in the fetus is calculated.
This examination is usually done between 15-22 weeks and is one of the necessary items for every pregnant woman. Generally, the screening results can be obtained one week after the blood draw. If the results show high risk, there is no need to panic too much. Further clarification can be obtained through chorionic villi biopsy, amniocentesis, and fetal chromosome examination.
