Is a amnio required with a pgd baby

[twins2]

Hi ladies, Just want to know when you do pgd are you still required to do an amnio. In my last pregnancy my protein levels in my blood tests came back with odd numbers which then placed me on the level of my babie having down syndrome I ended up having the amnio and everything came back crystal clear. I certaintly dont wish to go down that road if I dont have too. I will be 33 in Jan 2012

Can pgd outrule down syndrome and is this something you tell your doctor when you are pregnant. What do you think ladies?

[nuthinbutpink]

You can test for it but there can be a 5% error per probe. An amnio is a personal choice and with technology now, you can get a great look at any risk factors visible because the blood test is so poor of an indicator. I would do the same as you did last time. Have a NT scan, do the bloods with that and decide on a CVS after that if you want. My risk came back at 1 in 10000 so there was no way I was going to risk a CVS.

Lindi recently dealt with this.

[lindi]

Well, first of all you are never required to do an amnio. It used to be suggested that women over 35 routinely do it, but according to my OB not anymore because the screening has improved so much that unless you get pretty lousy odds from the blood and nuchal fold tests you are pretty safe.
I did 24 chromosome testing and my 12 week screening came back 1:28 for downs. I was shocked and totally ready to do a CVS. I couldn't for logistical reasons, and so I waited for the refined and more accurate results from the 15 week blood and that changed my odds to 1:6900. There has been some research indicating IVF pregnancies should be screened using different criteria because you get a lot more false screen positives with IVF because it often results in low PAPP-A, one of the things they check for the screening.
Because the aCGH and GSN testing really only has a 1-2% error rate, and because of what I went through I would really tell people to trust that testing and skip the CVS/amnio. The FISH probes do have a slightly higher error rate.

[HopingForPigtails]

Wow, Lindi! That's crazy. I totally thought if you did the 24 chromosomal testing, your tests would also echo that your risk of downs is low - so it's good to know they can still come back high. All of the stress! It never stops! :-)

[twins2]

Thanks for the info ladies, Here I am thinking that I will be all in the clear once I do pgd, You sure have it right when you said "All of the stress! It never stops" I dread going through the whole trans blood test and ultra sound and then to make a desion of having an amnio. I was 31 when I went through this and my daughter is 3 months now. Its strange how it works my protein levels in my blood test came back stearing me in the direction with my baby having down syndrome but my ultra sound came back all clear. We ended up having an amnio only because we did not want to wonder do we or dont we through the whole pregnancy but I must say I found it very painful and scarey not to mention the stress. I just hope and pray that everything comes back all clear for me next time round.

[HopingForPigtails]

Whew! Well, good luck and fingers crossed! :-)

[lindi]

Wow, Lindi! That's crazy. I totally thought if you did the 24 chromosomal testing, your tests would also echo that your risk of downs is low - so it's good to know they can still come back high. All of the stress! It never stops! :-)

...well ultimately my blood results DID echo that my risk was super low... but they are screening tests, and the vast vast majority of women with screen positives have perfectly healthy babies, so of course here are other reasons a woman's blood tests will vary from the "norm" and seem to indicate a risk when there is none. As my OB says this is the problem of too much information.

[Stella]

Hi Lindi,

Just wondering if you could tell me a bit more about low Papp a in ivf pregnancies? We had low Papp a with our first ivf pregnancy and we are now going to use a frozen embryo from the same batch. I am wondering if all the embryos from that batch will have low Papp a.

Thanks,
Stella

[nuthinbutpink]

They want to know if it is an IVF baby when you do the testing so it does affect the levels some how.

[jils04]

We always still do the nuchal scan just to confirm the pgd results. All was well with mine but the bloods do cause some worry for some. The whole thing is not perfect. Some docs say "you've done pgd, thats the dux guts of tests". others say "well, you only tested one cell at day 3, what about mosaicism ?", yet others say, "it doesn't and can't screen for everything your child can have, just a few like DS, Spina bifida and some other possible issues", What the ? It never ends, we just take very test/step as it comes. Best wishes