The sudden death of the combined first trimester aneuploidy screening, a single centre experience in Belgium

What is it about?

Since July 2017, the non-invasive prenatal screening test or "NIPT" is reimbursed for all pregnant women in Belgium. This test uses circulating DNA fragments of the fetus in the blood of the mother to determine if the fetus has certain diseases related to the number of chromosomes (such as Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21). The introduction of the NIPT led to a "sudden death" of the previously used prenatal screening test, the combined first trimester screening. This test used sonographic markers and the measurment of certain hormones in the blood of the mother. This study describes the experience of a tertiary centre in Belgium during the first 6 months after the introduction of NIPT as prenatal screening test for all pregnant women. In this period, almost no combined first trimester screenings were still performed. Also it confirms that NIPT performance is much better than this previously used test, with low failure rates, also in a general (low risk) pregnancy population.

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