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OBJECTIVE Evaluation of maternal serum screening for Down's syndrome (DS) and neural tube defects (NTDs). METHODS Longitudinal study. METHODS Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital Utrecht, the Netherlands. METHODS 6362 pregnant women underwent serum screening for DS and (or) NTD between the 15th and 21st weeks of pregnancy between March 1991 and March 1996. Screening was performed using alpha-foetoprotein, unconjugated oestriol, human chorionic gonadotrophin and maternal age. The result of each individual test was a calculated risk for delivering a child with DS and (or) NTD. RESULTS Nine out of 12 singleton pregnancies of a foetus with DS were detected. To this purpose, 573 women who, according to the serum screening had an increased risk of a child with the abnormality, were offered amniocentesis, which was performed in 471 of them. Two twin pregnancies with a total of 3 DS affected foetuses were also detected; one twin pregnancy of a DS foetus was screen-negative. The one case of spina bifida was screen-positive. The proportion of women eligible for invasive prenatal diagnosis because of maternal age increased from 9% to 25% in the course of the study. Of 1118 women aged > or = 36 years 913 (82%) declined invasive investigation compared with 40% in the general population. CONCLUSIONS The results of the maternal serum screening program in Utrecht were comparable with other studies. Maternal serum screening is accepted as an alternative by women above 36 years, and allows to decrease the need for amniocentesis without a significant loss in detection rate.
M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
Y T van der Schouw, and
A M Hagenaars, and
J M de Pater, and
G H Visser
January 1992,
Clinical laboratory science : journal of the American Society for Medical Technology,
M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
Y T van der Schouw, and
A M Hagenaars, and
J M de Pater, and
G H Visser
September 1991,
The Medical journal of Australia,
M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
Y T van der Schouw, and
A M Hagenaars, and
J M de Pater, and
G H Visser
August 1991,
The Medical journal of Australia,
M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
Y T van der Schouw, and
A M Hagenaars, and
J M de Pater, and
G H Visser
July 1991,
The Medical journal of Australia,
M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
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G H Visser
January 1998,
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M van Rijn, and
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August 1998,
Prenatal diagnosis,
M van Rijn, and
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February 1996,
South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde,
M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
Y T van der Schouw, and
A M Hagenaars, and
J M de Pater, and
G H Visser
November 1991,
The Medical journal of Australia,
M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
Y T van der Schouw, and
A M Hagenaars, and
J M de Pater, and
G H Visser
June 2001,
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M van Rijn, and
G C Christiaens, and
Y T van der Schouw, and
A M Hagenaars, and
J M de Pater, and
G H Visser
June 1993,
Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde,
