Patient's question:
Pregnant 17 weeks, no other discomfortDoctor's answer:
Analysis of the condition: Hello, prenatal screening is a test that involves drawing a sample of the pregnant woman's serum to detect the concentration of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the mother's serum. It also combines the pregnant woman's estimated due date, age, weight, and gestational age at the time of blood collection to calculate the risk factor for giving birth to a child with Down syndrome.Guidance: Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, refers to a condition where the patient has an extra chromosome (instead of a pair) in the 21st pair (normal individuals have one pair). Prenatal screening is determined by the levels of AFP and HCG in the pregnant woman's serum, combined with her age, weight, and gestational age to calculate the risk value. The critical value is 1/275. A value greater than this indicates high risk, while a value lower than it indicates low risk. The probability of having Down syndrome (DS) in the general population (under 37 years old) is 1/750. If the prenatal screening results show a high risk of the fetus having Down syndrome, further confirmatory tests—amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling—should be conducted. Prenatal screening can detect 60–70% of children with Down syndrome. It is important to note that prenatal screening can only help determine the likelihood of the fetus having Down syndrome but cannot confirm whether the fetus actually has the condition. We hope the above information is helpful to you. Wishing you a healthy baby!