Introduction
Down syndrome is a serious birth defect that affects approximately 1 out of every 800 of pregnancies. The more you know about assessing its risks, the better prepared you are to provide reliable, often reassuring news to your patients; as early as the first trimester when they want it, and without the guesswork involved with other methodologies.
NTD’s Ultra-Screen® Protocol is the standard of care in first trimester Down syndrome screening. It utilizes advanced immunoassay blood screening and NT ultrasound measurement to enable you to assess your patient’s risk for Down syndrome faster, and more reliably, with detection rates as high as 91% and false positive rates as low as 5% (95% detection, 2% false positive with optional fetal nasal bone assessment). (References) The procedures are non-invasive and totally safe, which creates fewer logistical complications and unnecessary risks to both mother and fetus.
- For those shown to be at low risk, Ultra-Screen® reduces the use of unnecessary diagnostic procedures that increase health risks to patient and fetus
- For those shown to be at high risk, Ultra-Screen® gives the patient and physician more time to consider follow-up diagnostic options such as CVS (chorionic villus sampling) or amniocentesis
- Safe, simple and non-invasive, so patients are more likely to undergo the screening
- Provides separate twin reports
- Provides separate trisomy 18/13 results
Clinically proven and validated by 18 investigational trials and 2 NIH-sponsored studies, the Ultra-Screen (NT/PAPP-A, free Beta hCG) protocol is a patented methodology pioneered by NTD Labs, the innovator in prenatal screening since 1976.