Patient's question:
Doctor, my wife is now three months pregnant. Because a colleague of mine gave birth to a child with Down syndrome, I'm quite worried. I wanted to ask early to prepare for preventive measures. Specifically, how can we conduct thorough checks for chromosomal abnormalities?Doctor's answer:
The current most routine screening method for fetal chromosome screening is the Triple Screen, which is generally divided into early triple screen and mid-trimester triple screen, with the latter being more commonly used. The mid-trimester triple screen is performed between weeks 14 and 20 of pregnancy. It involves blood tests to assess the risk of fetal chromosomal abnormalities. If the risk is low, the likelihood of chromosomal abnormalities is small, and further screening is generally not recommended. If the triple screen indicates a high risk, further amniocentesis is required to confirm the diagnosis.