Patient's question:
At 13 weeks, I had a prenatal check-up today for early screening. I want to ask what early screening is for. If the results come back as low risk, will I still need to do the Down syndrome screening at 16 weeks?Doctor's answer:
Hello, for early screening during pregnancy, a blood test is required. This test requires fasting, so you cannot eat breakfast. The definition of fasting is more than eight hours without eating, which means you cannot eat anything after finishing your meal at 9 PM the previous night. You can drink small amounts of water.There are many types of early screenings during pregnancy. What kind of screening did you do? However, regardless of whether the risk is low, the Down syndrome screening is always performed. The Down syndrome screening cannot be replaced by these so-called early screenings unless you have undergone an amniocentesis.