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By Mayo Clinic staffFirst trimester screening includes a blood test and an ultrasound exam.
During the blood test, a member of your health care team simply takes a sample of blood by inserting a needle into a vein in your arm. The blood sample is sent to a lab for analysis. You can return to your usual activities immediately.
For the ultrasound exam, you'll lie on your back on an exam table. Your health care provider or a specially trained technician will place a slender, wand-like device in your vagina to send out sound waves and gather the reflections. The reflected sound waves will be digitally converted into images on a monitor. Your health care provider or technician will use these images to measure the size of the clear space in the tissue at the back of your baby's neck.
The ultrasound may take up to an hour. It doesn't hurt, and you can return to your usual activities immediately. Test results are typically available in less than a week.
- Canick JA, et al. First trimester and integrated screening for Down syndrome and trisomy 18. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 8, 2010.
- Benacerraf BR. Sonographic findings associated with aneuploidy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 8, 2010.
- Chervenak FA, et al. Ethical considerations in first-trimester Down syndrome risk assessment. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology. In press. Accessed March 8, 2010.
- Kagan KO, et al. Screening for trisomy 21 by maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency thickness, free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2008;31:618.
- Screening for birth defects. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp165.cfm. Accessed March 8, 2010.
- Routine tests in pregnancy. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp133.cfm. Accessed March 8, 2010.
- Harms RW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. April 11, 2010.
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