article_snippet: For the first time women are to get an advanced blood test to detect Down’s syndrome and other abnormalities in unborn babies on the NHS.
article_snippet: It is one of several non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) examinations that promise greater accuracy for women at high risk of having a Down’s baby.
article_snippet: Eventually such NIPT tests will be routinely used to reassure all pregnant women.
article_snippet: Current screening for Down’s on the NHS consists of the less-accurate ‘combined’ test, which uses ultrasound to measure the amount of fluid at the back of a Down’s baby’s neck at 11 weeks, as well as a blood test.
article_snippet: ‘Too many pregnant women have been through the anxiety and discomfort of invasive procedures after receiving false positive results [women wrongly identified as being at risk] from the combined test – the new test gives us the accuracy and reliability to reduce this number significantly.
article_snippet: A study by the UK National Screening Committee to check whether NIPT should be offered routinely on the NHS is underway, involving five hospitals, and is due to report later this year.
article_snippet: Trials of another NIPT test offering expectant mothers 99 per cent accuracy in screening for Down’s syndrome are being run by Great Ormond Street Hospital.
article_snippet: NIPT has a higher detection rate and lower false positive rate than the combined test.
article_snippet: This means fewer women will undergo unnecessary invasive follow-up procedures which are stressful and carry a small risk of miscarriage.
article_snippet: the makers of the new test, said: ‘We recognised the limitations in the current standard of prenatal screening and the huge unmet medical need for a regulated test.
highlights_snippet: Eventually similar tests will be routinely used to reassure pregnant women .