Prenatal Maternal Triple Screen, Serum

The maternal triple screen is a combined serum analyte measurement that is used for the prenatal detection of Down’s syndrome, Edward’s syndrome and open neural-tube defects. The risk of carrying a child with Down’s syndrome increases with maternal age. The use of maternal age of 35 years or more as the only criterion for performing invasive testing results in identification of only 20% of Down’s syndrome pregnancies. The inclusion of α-fetoprotein (AFP) increases the detection rate to 28%. The addition of β-hCG and unconjugated Estriol (FE3) increases the detection rate to 60% at a fixed false-positive rate of 5%. See Also α-Fetoprotein, Serum , β-hCG, Serum and Estriol, Free (FE3), Serum , Down’s Syndrome , Neural Tube Defect and Trisomy 18 Risk, Quadruple Screen.

The most common screening test for the evaluation of the risk of having a child with Down’s syndrome, Edward’s syndrome and open neural-tube defects is the triple test consisting of AFP, Estriol, and β-hCG or free β-hCG, which together with maternal age may achieve a detection rate ranging from 60% to 65% and a false-positive rate of 5%. High-risk pregnancies should be followed up using more specific tests

2 ml Serum Stability: 3 Days at 2-8 °C

Patient must be between 15-20 weeks of gestation. State mother’s DOB, LMP, and weight. Risk factor is calculated on an individual basis, related to LMP, weight, date of birth, diabetic or not, and smoker or not. Avoid grossly haemolysed or grossly lipemic samples.

By Report