False-positive Quad Screen?

I had a positive for down's at 18 weeks and did a level 2 at 19 weeks. But that was after the amnio. I didn't know there was the option to NOT do the amnio. If I had to do it all over again i wouldn't have gone the level 2 route first then the amnio. And everything came out perfect for us. Nothing was wrong

Hi,

Sorry but I did not know what T18 was or anything about it. But I would like to know why were you having this test done. I have sisters that have babies now and they never mentioned this test for them to have done.

J.
www.noahbyjodi.com

The quad screen has a lot of false positives - that's why it's a screen. I haven't experienced this, but here's how we guided our decision making about all of the prenatal tests that were offered. Most important question to ask yourself is what will you DO with the knowledge. Will it affect any decisions you make? Would you decide to terminate the baby if it DID have T18? Or would you carry it to term and give it comfort care and let it die (or be stillborn)? Hard decisions, I know, but one that you may be facing. If it will give you peace of mind for the next 4 weeks, or if you would make a decision to terminate the baby based on the results, then do the amnio. Either way, we'll keep our fingers crossed for you and say a prayer - it can't hurt :)

For us, we did not choose to get screened for this very reason - we could not think of a situation that would make us decide to terminate the baby. On the other hand, we did get the US at 20 weeks because we decided that if there *was* something wrong we'd at least like a heads up so that we could be prepared.

First off, it's just a screening test; you can't get a positive result. Rest assured that less than 1% of pregnancies have a trisomy 18 problem. You would have had a level II ultrasound at 20 weeks anyway, so don't stress. There's nothing scary about a level II, it's to take measurements of all the baby's organs, etc.

I personally wouldn't do an amnio unless it was pretty certain that trisomy problems existed. My OB is very anti-amnio and said that there's no reason a good tech and OB can't figure out what's going on based on a good-quality level II ultrasound.

Try not to worry.

Do not stress. As others mentioned, false positives are very common. I had one and went on to get an amnio which I planned to do anyway for my own peace of mind (I should have skipped the quad screen given my plans). If you need the peace of mind, I would get the amnio - you do not want to go through the rest of your pregrancy frightened. Ultrasounds do show a lot these days so that is a viable option as well, but it does not show chromosomal abnormalities like an amnio would. Do what is going to make you feel best.

Hi J.,
I had a positive result on my quad screen. I was 15 weeks pregnant when we had the test. My Dr. recommended for us to have the level II ultrasound done if we didn't want to have an amnio done. We opted to only have the level II, there were no positive indicators for Downs syndrome, which we thought that the baby might have. My Dr. told me that the quad screen had a tremendous amount of false positives. My baby was born normal and healthy, I'm sure that your baby will be fine also. Hang in there I know that the next couple of weeks will feel like an eternity.
Good luck,
B.

i have never heard of T18 but there always is hope. I will include you and your baby in my prayers.

When I was pregnant with my first, they had the "triple screen" and I opted not to take it because of the high occurance of false positives. I'm assuming that they adding another screening to now make it a quad, but the possibility of false positives remains. This last preganancy, I chose the BUN test at 11 weeks which consists of a small blood test along with an Ultrasound to check for the same chromosonal markers. It was supposed to have a lower chance for false positives, but I happened to get one for Down's. I then was given the choice for CVS at 12 weeks or Amnio at 15 for. I chose the CVS and everything turned out fine. From what I understand, the only way you can definitely rule out any of the chromosonal syndromes is through an analysis using Amnio or CVS. I do appreciate the anxiety related with these blood tests now and going forward, I think I would go right for the CVS so I did not have to go through even a day of wondering if something was wrong. Good luck with everything.

J., I wish I would have never taken this test. I felt I was pressured into taking it from the nurses at my OB's office. A lot of people have issues with this test b/c a LOT of False positives seem to surface, and what does this do? It scares the lliving daylights out of us moms and makes us worry, usually very unneccessarily. We had our test come back for Down SYndrome 1/247. I was so scared. We did the amnio to make sure we would be prepared if God did choose to pick us for a special baby. he amnio came back, our risk was cleared, and my daughter is perfectly fine. The amnio's are veryy safe. I think you should listen to your heart and only get one if you really want to know what is in store for you.

False positives on the quad screen are very common. My midwife actually recommended against having it for that reason and also because of the fact that ultrasound can pick up many problems anyway. I didn't get one with either pregnancy.

Personally I wouldn't have an amnio because to me the risk of causing a miscarriage is not worth the knowledge I may gain. I also knew that I wouldn't terminate a pregnancy though, so to me the knowledge wasn't that important. You may feel differently about what actions you would take so that would affect how important amnio results would be to you.

I wish you the best with whatever you decide. It's so hard to have to wait. Isn't there any way they can move up the ultrasound? I know it can be more accurate later but for peace of mind maybe they could take a peek sooner.

J.,
I am 21 weeks, and this happened to me too! I did the triple screen and it came back that my chances of a downs baby quadrupled! As you know, I was freaking out. I ended up doing a CVS the next day, and got the results several days later. I hadn't wanted to do anything invasive since we went through a lot of fertility treatments to get pregnant, but it all worked out. You might be too far for a CVS, but can't you do an amnio at 16 weeks? The amnio is safer than CVS and it also gives input on neural tube problems. For me, the peace of mind was very important. Hope this helps.

Hi J.,

Hang in there! I would do the level II ultrasound at 20wks for peace of mind, but it's true there are a lot of false positives with the screenings...did the doctor give you a percentage for that? T18 is serious so I do understand your concern...and for the lady who mentioned it is worse than "Downs"...that is an understatement!!! I have a boy with DS and he is doing great...so there really is no comparison in my eyes between Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 21! Good luck to you!

I would agree with some of the others, you need to ask yourself what would you do if this was correct? You are at the right time for an amino and I would recommend that pending your answer to the above question. I believe that is the only way you will know 100% for sure what you are dealing with. My sister had a T18 pregrency and the baby was stillborn however they can live many years and if so, they are usually in a vegatative state. T18 is worse than downs. So then ask yourself if you can handle that type of situation. Personally, I've had aminos with my 3 pregencys because I wanted to be prepared. Good luck!

I never did the quad because I was told there was a very high rate of false positives. A few of my friends who did have postives had amnios. Most were okay, one did have Down's syndrome, but it was also very apparent on the U/S.
As a mom of 3, my only advice is for you to ~wait to worry~ until you know for sure something is wrong.What I mean by that is, who knows for sure and you'll make yourself sick worrying. Do everything you can testing wise and medically and go from there. My 3rd baby was breech and they told us it was a huge chance of cerebal palsy and other birth defects. She was actually born with a very correctable hip issue from the breech position,and other than that she's fine.Good luck!

Hi J.,

I had the quad screen done and had a false-positive as well. I also had to wait and worry about as long as you so I understand what you are going through. Hang in there, I know that the next 4wks will be your longest ever. I had the level 2 u/s and chose to do an amnio at the same time. They both turned out fine. I have a very healthy 17 month old little girl. Everyone's experiences are different. I wish there were something we could do or say to help you to not worry as much but easier said than done. Just try and take a deep breath and remember that stress is not good for you or the baby. I think I had every scare you can have during pregnancy and everything ended up fine. If you need anything or have any questions, feel free to contact me!
You, the baby and your family are in my prayers.

Wishing you the best,
C.

I too had a false positive result from my quad screen test. It is very common and that is why many people choose not to have the test at all. Fortunately we knew it was false because I had already had the CVS test done at 10 weeks which came back with zero chromosomal abnormalities. You may want to discuss this option with your OB. Good luck.