Patient's question:
I'm very happy to have a child. The doctor said I need to do a screening for Down syndrome. I'm currently 16 weeks pregnant and went to the hospital for a thorough check-up. The results of the screening showed high risk for Down syndrome. What should I do?Doctor's answer:
The optimal time for the Down syndrome screening is between 15-20 weeks, with the best time being 16-18 weeks. Down syndrome screening involves collecting maternal blood, maternal weight, age, and other comprehensive evaluation factors to determine the probability of the fetus having this disease. This is only a screening method, with a possibility of being high if the risk is below 1/270. If the likelihood of having a trisomy 21 child is high based on the screening, it is best to undergo amniocentesis or non-invasive DNA testing. Down syndrome screening is a common method for screening trisomy 21 children.