Pregnant women do NT examination

The NT test during pregnancy is a test that every pregnant woman should undergo during pregnancy. It can detect whether the fetus is likely to have Down syndrome and can screen for fetal malformations. The NT test during pregnancy is usually performed between the eleventh and fourteenth weeks of pregnancy. It is very necessary for giving birth to a healthy baby. Pregnant mothers must pay attention to the NT test.

Do pregnant women need to do NT examination?

The NT test during pregnancy is actually an examination of the fetal "neck translucency" in the early stages of pregnancy. It is an important method for assessing whether the baby is likely to have Down syndrome. Because children with Down syndrome often have edema of the soft tissue in the neck, while normal fetuses do not have this abnormal sign. This examination is different from the B-ultrasound examination during pregnancy. Although both are done by ultrasound scans, the focus is on diagnosing chromosomal diseases and discovering fetal abnormalities caused by various reasons in the early stages of pregnancy. It is very helpful in preventing congenital malformations of the fetus.

How to do NT test

During the 11th to 14th week of pregnancy, if the fetus has Down syndrome or has poor heart development, the nuchal translucency will thicken. The thicker the nuchal translucency, the greater the probability of fetal abnormalities. The normal value of NT is <2.5mm.

NT ≥ 3mm is considered high risk and prenatal diagnosis is recommended. NT is an important screening indicator, and the examination method is simple and non-invasive, so don't miss it. The best time to do the NT test is between 11 and 14 weeks of pregnancy. Making an appointment for the NT test in advance can save you the trouble of queuing up for registration. Making an appointment in advance can save time.

What does NT check? Fetuses with Down syndrome will have subcutaneous water accumulation, so the skin on the back of the neck will be thicker. If NT detects that the thickness of the fetal neck skin exceeds the standard value, it may be related to fetal chromosomal karyotype abnormalities and other structural malformations. The thicker the NT, the greater the probability of fetal structural abnormalities and chromosomal abnormalities.

In addition to detecting the risk of chromosomal abnormalities, thickening of the fetal nuchal translucency is also related to congenital heart disease.

If the NT test result is outside the standard range, pregnant women are advised to undergo follow-up fetal anomaly screening to further confirm the risk of fetal abnormalities so that early countermeasures can be taken.

Necessity of NT examination

In our country, doctors generally recommend nuchal translucency scans for people at high risk of Down syndrome, such as pregnant women over 35 years old, those who have given birth to a baby with Down syndrome, or those with a family history of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome. Although a nuchal translucency scan cannot determine definitively whether the fetus is infected, it can help pregnant women decide whether further diagnostic testing is needed.

The necessity of NT examination lies in that nuchal translucency scanning is a method to assess whether the fetus may have Down syndrome, which is a screening method. The NT test is different from diagnostic tests such as chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis. They can provide a definite diagnosis, but the NT test can only indicate the risk.

The accuracy of the nuchal translucency examination is determined by many factors, including the level of the ultrasound physician and the accuracy of the scanner used, so the examination results cannot be guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

The NT test can only provide a reference for whether further prenatal diagnosis is needed. The ultrasound screening results cannot be used to determine whether the fetus is abnormal. To determine whether the fetus has chromosomal abnormalities, further chromosome analysis is still required through chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis.