NICE - Down's antenatal screening
Last reviewed 01/2018
Screening for Down's syndrome
- all pregnant women should be offered screening for Down's syndrome. Women
should understand that it is their choice to embark on screening for Down's
syndrome
- screening for Down's syndrome should be performed by the end of the first
trimester (13 weeks 6 days), but provision should be made to allow later screening
(which could be as late as 20 weeks 0 days) for women booking later in pregnancy
- the 'combined test' (nuchal translucency, beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin,
pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A) should be offered to screen for Down's
syndrome between 11 weeks 0 days and 13 weeks 6 days. For women who book later
in pregnancy the most clinically and cost-effective serum screening test (triple
or quadruple test) should be offered between 15 weeks 0 days and 20 weeks
0 days
- when it is not possible to measure nuchal translucency, owing to fetal position
or raised body mass index, women should be offered serum screening (triple
or quadruple test) between 15 weeks 0 days and 20 weeks 0 days
- the presence of an isolated soft marker, with the exception of increased
nuchal fold, on the routine anomaly scan, should not be used to adjust the
a priori risk for Down's syndrome
- the presence of an increased nuchal fold (6millimetres or above) or two or more soft markers on the routine anomaly scan should prompt the offer of a referral to a fetal medicine specialist or an appropriate healthcare professional with a special interest in fetal medicine
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