Pregnant women in UK offered extra opportunity to screen for Edwards’ syndrome

The UK National Screening Committee has recommended including a test for Edwards’ syndrome as part of the fetal anomaly screening programme for women who miss, or do not complete, the first trimester combined test.1The committee agreed that the quadruple test is accurate enough to be added to the antenatal screening pathway for Edwards’ syndrome but not to the pathway for Patau’s syndrome.Edwards’ syndrome, also known as trisomy 18 or T18, means a baby has three copies of chromosome number 18 instead of two. It is a life limiting condition with most babies dying during their first year of life.Currently screening for Edwards’ syndrome occurs in the first trimester of pregnancy as part of the combined test which also screens for Patau’s syndrome (trisomy 13) and Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21). The change means that pregnant women who miss this combined test can in future be offered the quadruple test to screen…
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