a friend of mine was just told that her unborn baby may have downs syndrom. false positive?

Question

is it possible that the doctors could be wrong/

Answer 1

Yes, it's very possible that the doctors can be wrong. What kind of testing did they do? Often they will measure the baby during the ultrasound and say that there are several markers for downs syndrome - this is not always accurate. They then might want to do an amniocentesis which can be risky for the baby, but has a higher chance of accuracy.

Personally we specifically didn't want them to measure markers for DS during the ultrasound and wouldn't have done an amnio. It wouldn't have changed the fact that I was keeping the baby, and I wanted to not be stressed out for the rest of my pregnancy which could also be unhealthy for the baby.

Here's a quote from the article listed as my source:
"While many women are reassured by a normal scan, in fact RPU detects only between 17 percent and 85 percent of the one in 50 babies that have major abnormalities at birth.5,6 A recent study from Brisbane, Australia, showed that ultrasound at a major women's hospital missed about 40 percent of abnormalities, many of which are difficult or impossible to detect.7 The major causes of intellectual disability, such as cerebral palsy and Down syndrome, or heart and kidney abnormalities, are unlikely to be picked up on a routine scan.

There is also a small chance that the diagnosis of an abnormality is false positive. In some instances, normal babies have been aborted because of false-positive diagnoses.8 A United Kingdom survey found that one in 200 babies aborted for major abnormalities were wrongly diagnosed.9

In addition to false positives, there are also uncertain cases in which the ultrasound image cannot be easily interpreted, and the outcome for the baby is not known. In one study involving babies at higher risk of abnormalities, almost 10 percent of scans were uncertain.10 This can create immense anxiety for the woman and her family that may not be allayed by the birth of a normal baby: in the same study, mothers with questionable diagnoses still had associated anxiety three months after the child's birth. Uncertain findings also lead to repeated and/or prolonged scans, increasing the expense, inconvenience, and dosage of ultrasound.

In some cases of uncertainty, further tests such as amniocentesis are recommended. In such situations, there may be up to two weeks wait for results, during which time a mother must consider whether or not she will terminate the pregnancy if an abnormality is found. Even mothers who receive reassuring news have felt that this process has interfered with their relationship with their babies.11"

I'm not sure why they told your friend that, it could just be because of her age- older women have a higher chance of DS babies.

Answer 2

The same thing happened to me last year. I received a phone call from the doctor's office while I was on a field trip with my 10 year old (not the best) that the test was positive. A week later I had to see someone who had to explain all the worst case scenarios to me and my husband. The only way to find out for sure was to have an amnio test, that was a hard decision. I decided I couldn't be stressed out for 5 more months, and took the test. I had to wait 2 weeks for the results. I got so.... depressed, I prayed everyday. That never happened to me before. But, at the end the test came back negative. I never felt so happy.

Answer 3

There is no one hundred percent accurate test for Down's Syndrome except giving birth and seeing that the baby has the physical symptoms. U/S may give you some glimpse at the baby's features (3/4D). If you had a blood test, that simply gives a general number of how likely it is that your baby could have a genetic disorder like Down's Syndrome- even the "bad news" numbers still give you a 90-99 percent chance of having a perfectly healthy baby. Blood tests aren't very reliable at all at predicting Down's Syndrome, an amniocentesis can give you a more definitive percentage but is still not one hundred percent.

Answer 4

My sister in law was told this when they did an ultrasound, and we all were devastated. The amniocentesis was done and we held our breath until the results came back negative. He is now a healthy 10 year old. So, yes, sometimes if its a diagnosis from an ultrasound they can be wrong, but if it was a result of an amniocentesis then they are probably more sure. Was this diagnosis based on an ultrasound, or was the amnio already done?

Answer 5

Yah my best friend was told her baby had downs syndrome and she cried for two weeks strait and then found out it was a false positive and she just had gestational diabetes and the baby was fine. Her baby is maybe the most intelligent baby i have ever seen.

Answer 6

First my sympathy for the family... it is never wrong to check test results especially of this importance..their doctor should be ok with getting a second test done.. i suggest that they do that with all speed... while there maybe options/treatments available now for the unborn child if the results are positive.

n r thgts n prys

Answer 7

If this result was obtained by an AFP test, the chances that this is an inaccurate result are high. It is not at all accurate. If this result was obtained or suspected because of level II ultrasound findings or amniocentesis, the outlook is not positive.

Answer 8

OMG i am so sorry, All things can leave room for human error. I am not sure on what the percentage of that happening is but i am so sorry from the bottom of my heart. Please stand by her through this, help her, she will need you terribly. Her and her baby are in mine and my sons prays tonight and every night that follows. I am pretty amotional right now, i am sorry not to be of that much of help.

Good Luck Jenn

Answer 9

There is always a possibility that the test results are wrong. Trying different doctors, hospitals or tests may give more results? or it may confuse her more, too =/

Answer 10

Yes, Those tests are never 100% accurate. That's why I didn't even get them. They have more false positives then anything.