Why would anyone choose not to take the NIPT test?

queene

Mon, Sep 21 2020, 11:09 pm

There is a possible chance of false positive and for someone with anxiety having to go thru that is just not worth it.
Why not just wait until the 20 week sono when they can confirm more accurately and save urself some weeks of craziness..
This is all assuming you wont terminate no matter the result...

amother

Saddlebrown

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 12:10 am

amother [ Smokey ] wrote:

Because we won't terminate and if there is anything we need to be prepared for medically at birth it will come up on the anatomy scan.

Exactly this and we asked our rav and he said x to take due to this.

Teomima

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 12:42 am

On one hand, I totally agree. I'm of the camp where I wouldn't terminate the pregnancy but any knowledge ahead of time is helpful and helps you prepare for what is to come. I do all noninvasive recommended scans for that reason. I have never done an amnio because I don't want to take the risk, no matter how small. And with the NIPT test there's none of that risk so it's great.

However, it was not covered by my insurance, and is very, very expensive. I decided should there be any indication of anything questionable from my other scans, I would consider doing it, but if not, it just wasn't worth the cost. In the end I never did it.

Mayflower

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 3:13 am

My gynecologist advised against it (knowing I would not terminate the pregnancy).

He also said it's a bit of a Pandora's box, since, at least in Europe, not only "the big three" trisomies are detected (13, 18 and 21), but also ANY genetic mutation. He said it happens regularly that a chromosonal abnormality is detected which is unknown and it's not certain what the consequences will be (if there are any consequences at all). This would lead to a lot of stress and anxiety, when often it's just an innocent variant in genes that does not cause any disorder.

jerusalem90

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 3:21 am

Expensive! At least in Israel by my first pregnancy, I'm thinking it was around 2000₪ out of pocket. Also I wouldn't terminate anyway. But if it were free I'd do NIPT. I wouldn't do CVS/amnio because of the chance of miscarriage.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 3:22 am

I know too many women who were told that their child was going to have a trisomy, and were encouraged to terminate.

They all gave birth to perfectly healthy, normal children. Mistakes in testing happen, so why set yourself up for so much stress? All that worry is not good for the mother or the baby. Even if you think that you would take it totally in stride, you never know until someone tells you that there might be an anomaly.

Twice in my life I've been told that I most likely have cancer (once very recently.) Through davening and emunah, both times the decree was reversed, and it turned out to be nothing serious B'H. What about all of those scary ultrasounds, mammograms, and scans? All the cysts and masses were not there once the doctors went back to check again, or to look for them during surgery. GONE.

Of course we don't rely on miracles, but that doesn't mean that they don't happen sometimes. A diagnosis is man's tool for medicine, but Hashem is the true healer. It's up to Hashem to decide if you, or your baby, will be healthy. He has His reasons.

amother

Copper

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 3:48 am

I had the scan which detected a possible marker for Down Syndrome. They did the blood test ehich accompanies the scan which came back perfectly clean by. After that, there were no further scares and I was able to relax more, as well as know the baby's gender definitively. I had never done that, but I was due on a big Yom Tov, and I wanted to be prepared for all that might entail.

amother

White

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 8:36 am

I didn't take it, and even after having a child that would have shown up positive I wouldn't take it again. The anxiety of all the months of worry would not have been worth it. Significant medical concerns would show up on sonograms. To have spent all those months worrying about health complications or what would be would have been horrible. And bh my child is totally healthy and doing amazing bli ayin hara!!

amother

Hotpink

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 8:51 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

Radiologists usually freak out when they see something on a sonogram or any other exam. (Even if it’s something that means nothing atm and in the future could be something else. So they ll give u the worst possibility ever).
I’m married to a radiologist.

Genius

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 9:08 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

The NIPT is a very accurate test.

amother

Coffee

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 9:08 am

As other posters above I chose not to take it because I didn’t think there was anything I’d do if the baby did have trisomy something. (I’m in my low 20s)
After my anatomy scan showed anomalies I was advised to take it so we know what we’re dealing with.
I had an adorable Down syndrome baby girl BH.
I sure am glad I saved myself ten weeks of heartache.

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 11:36 am

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

I’ve heard that until you know anything for sure, it’s not too late to daven for a healthy baby. Once a scan shows a problem, we don’t really rely on outright miracles.

Many gedolim hold like this. A hidden miracle is “easier” then a obvious miracle.
As long we don’t know something is wrong and daven through pregnancy anything can be happening inside of us.

amother

Beige

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 3:20 pm

There are rare cases where abortion is allowed (recommended?), where the baby's condition chas vesholom makes it LO ALEINU incompatible with life. I don't know if the NIPT tests for those conditions.

So most frum women don't take it, even after age 35? Or is it 50/50, some do and some don't?

Java

Tue, Sep 22 2020, 3:24 pm

amother [ Beige ] wrote:

When my doctor offered it to me, this was the question I asked her: if something comes up that's wrong, what does that help us? Is it that 1. we'll have more time to prepare mentally in case our baby ch"v does have one of these syndromes? or 2. that my pregnancy will be more high risk or that we need to prepare for immediate specialized medical care once the baby is born?
If she would have just said #1, I think we would have had a legitimate question as to whether to take it or not. She said, though that #2 is also part of it. That's why we did the test.
Also, it's not true that these things will always show up on ultrasound, even if they do show up most of the time. I actually took the test later on, after I had had multiple ultrasounds, done 12 week testing w/ NT etc. My doctor just wanted to be safe.
And yes the NIPT is extremely accurate. More than 99%