This Is How NT Scan Will Detect Down Syndrome in Baby

Pregnancy is a very challenging stage in every women’s life. It is a period when women need to take extra special care of herself so that her baby grows pink and healthy. Health is the most important aspects for her when she is pregnant. Mother’s body is the source for the baby’s food and growth, hence she must eat healthy and stay healthy during this time period.
Pregnancy is a period of nine month that is almost equal to 40 weeks. This span of time is divided into three trimesters, where each trimester is of three month’s time. The first trimester of pregnancy starts from the 1st week to the 12th week. Second trimester is from 13th week to 27th week and the third trimester is from 28th week to the baby’s birth.

Down-Syndrome-Baby

Pregnant ladies must eat all healthy and nutritious food at regular intervals of time throughout the day. Sleep is another important aspect of pregnancy. Pregnant mothers must get proper amount of sleep so that they are active during the rest of the day. Pregnancy period is the time when women must keep their body and mind healthy. In order to maintain these factors, doctors suggest light exercises. Yoga and meditation can also be done to keep her mind and body calm and away from all the worries.

Pregnant mothers must also take regular check ups to keep a note about her health and the health of her baby. Regular health check ups during pregnancy is also a very import factor. It gives you the knowledge about how well and healthy your baby is growing inside. Also, if in case she falls sick or suffers from cold, cough or any such health issues, she must visit a doctor immediately before it affects the foetus (unborn developing baby in the mother’s womb). The slightest amount of change in your physical and mental health can affect your baby. Therefore, make sure you keep balance of all these important aspects to keep problems at bay.

During pregnancy different pregnancy tests performed to check the overall health status of the mother as well as the unborn growing baby. These tests assess various health factors of both mother and the baby. There are different types of tests like blood tests, scanning tests, etc., that helps your gynecologist to determine various factors about the baby’s growth and development.

The period of nine months is divided in such a way, that it shows different stages of the baby’s growth. Along with physical growth and physical aspects of your baby, it is also important to know whether the baby’s mental growth is growing well too. Some tests during pregnancy shows foetal heart sound and growth of the foetus in successive ultrasound (sonography). However, there are certain tests that notifies you about your baby’s mental health fitness as well.

Down syndrome is one the mental conditions that can affect your foetus during pregnancy. It mainly happens due to certain genetic deformities that occurs during the growth and development of the foetus inside the womb. When genetic chromosome 21 is disorderly arranged, it delays the baby’s intellectual growth and development. An early detection of such a deformed condition can really be helpful.

A Nuchal Translucency (NT) test is a type of screening test performing during pregnancy to detect early signs of Down’s syndrome in your foetus. Unaware of how this test works, a pregnant lady would have many queries regarding this test. Therefore, let us first learn what NT test is all about, what exactly it detects about the foetus and what is the entire procedure of this test.

Nuchal translucency is fluid that gets collected under the skin or at the back of the baby’s neck. As your baby grows, the thickness of this skin increases. However, if this fluid collection is thicker than the normal amount, it detects early signs of diseases like Down’s syndrome, heart disorders or trisomy 18. Trisomy 18 is one of a kind of mental disorder caused due to an extra formation of chromosome 18. This disease also hampers the developmental growth of the baby causing delay in it.

Nuchal Translucency Test

Nuchal translucency test calculates the thickness of fluid buildup at the back side of the unborn baby’s neck. This test is an imaging test usually performed between 11 to 14 weeks of pregnancy. It is performed using ultrasound mechanism. This test can also be carried out when the baby measures between 45mm and 84mm.

Nuchal-Translucency-Test

Nuchal translucency test calculates the thickness of fluid buildup at the back side of the unborn baby’s neck. This test is an imaging test usually performed between 11 to 14 weeks of pregnancy. It is performed using ultrasound mechanism. This test can also be carried out when the baby measures between 45mm and 84mm.

Need for Nuchal Translucency Test

One of the tests performed during pregnancy period is the nuchal translucency test. It is useful to access whether the foetus is likely to develop Down’s syndrome. This test also calculates the estimation of the risk of your baby to have Down’s syndrome.
Sometimes, to calculate the accuracy of the obtained results, further tests can also be carried out to confirm about the results of NT test. For example, if your NT test shows positive results about your baby having Down’s syndrome or likely to have Down’s syndrome, your gynecologist can ask you to undergo some more tests to confirm about the results obtained. In that case, your doctor can combine NT test with blood test for further diagnosis.

Nuchal Translucency Test Procedure

Nuchal-Translucency-Test-Procedure

A pregnant woman should know all the details about the different tests she is undergoing during her pregnancy. Let us read further to learn the entire procedure about nuchal translucency test.
As mentioned earlier, NT test is carried out between 11 weeks to 14 weeks of pregnancy period. It can be undertaken along with your routine pregnancy tests and scans. However, your baby’s crown rump length (CRL) should be between 45mm to 84mm. These measurements are important to meet the requirements of NT test because if your baby is too small, it becomes difficult to perform scanning mechanisms. Also, after the 14th week of pregnancy, excess nuchal fluid may be absorbed by the lymphatic system (vital part of your immune system and sub part of your circulatory system, that carries a fluid called lymph to your heart) that is being developed. This condition can show inaccurate test results, therefore it is advisable that NT test is performed before 14th week of pregnancy.
The imaging procedure begins by using an ultrasound scan equipment over your stomach. Before the imaging mechanism starts, the radiologist applies small amount of gel on your stomach. He/she then moves a device called transducer over the gel-applied area of your skin smoothly. It is a painless procedure. Although, you might feel a slight amount of pressure on your tummy. You can view the scan results on a computer screen at the same time.

If at all your doctor is unable to achieve a proper view of your foetus through your stomach, the radiologist can suggest you to take a scan through vaginal opening. However, this is a very rare situation if you are overweight or your uterus (womb) tilts backwards.
The test results shown on the computer screen is a visual display of your foetus in white and black colour. You can see your baby’s head, limbs, feet, spine and hands on the television screen. The white line appearing on the screen detects the skin of your foetus whereas the black line shows the fluid present under the skin.
If the fluid lining is thicker than the normal range, it shows that your foetus is showing early signs of Down’s syndrome or some kind of abnormal condition. For further diagnosis your physician might ask you to go for certain blood tests in order to confirm about such health disorders of your baby.

Nuchal Translucency Test Results

Nuchal-Translucency-Test-ResultsWhen the results of any tests are out, patients are usually confused as they are unable to read them. Let us learn how to read NT scan results so that it can help you or your family member to understand what it actually indicates.An nuchal translucency is a thick fluid found at the back area of your unborn baby’s neck. If this fluid layer has a thickness less than 3.5mm it indicates that the results are normal (If the baby measures between 45mm to 84mm). The thickness of NT fluid grows in correspondence to the baby’s growth. If the nuchal translucency fluid grows more than the required range of thickness, it creates abnormalities in chromosomal structuring, mental health of the baby and also leads to heart problems. However, an increased thickness of the NT fluid does not always indicate that there is definitely an issue. Some babies without Down’s syndrome can also have increased amount of fluid behind their neck. Risk of Down’s syndrome might increase with the age of the woman. With increase in your age the chances of risk for your baby to acquire a Down’s syndrome condition also increases. Therefore, when you undergo an NT scan test, your gynecologist will consider the measurements obtained from the test along with your age and notify you about the risk. Risk is lower or higher depends on both the factors; age and measurement of thickness of NT fluid.

In order to provide an accurate result, most medical centers perform an NT scan test along with certain blood test to give you a clear and confirmed result. Undergoing an early NT test can help you decide about the next steps that are necessary to take.
Note that even when a woman shows high risk of Down’s syndrome due to her age factor, there is a nine out of ten chance that your baby does not have Down’s syndrome.

To conclude, the above article speaks about NT scan and why it is a necessity for every pregnant women. It also gives you all the details about NT scan, how is it measures and how to learn about its results. Nuchal Translucency scan test is one of the important test a woman must take when she is pregnant. If you are pregnant make sure you discuss about the same with your gynecologist and undergo the necessary tests for a better health of your baby.

Description- A Nuchal Translucency test is a screening test performing during pregnancy to detect early signs of Down’s syndrome in your foetus. Know here the procedure of NT test.
Tags- Nuchal Translucency test, Nuchal Translucency test procedure, NT test, tests to do in pregnancy

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *