Evaluation of maternal serum triple screen as an identifier of trisomy 21 pregnancy

Maternal serum triple screen is used to identify women less than 35 years of age who are at an increased risk of having a fetus with Down syndrome. The screen identifies 5% of women tested as being at an increased risk but only 2--3% of these women actually have a fetus with chromosome abnormalities, indicating a high false positive rate. Medical records for 900 cases referred for maternal serum triple screen and maternal age were reviewed. The percentages of abnormal karyotypes in the two populations were not significantly different from each other or the expected value. While 3% of all cases with normal karyotype had an abnormal ultrasound, 33% of cases with abnormal karyotypes had an abnormal ultrasound. This suggests that ultrasound may be helpful in identifying fetuses with Down syndrome. While maintaining the same detection rate of abnormal fetuses, it would also decrease the number of invasive procedures performed.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biochemistry

Year dc:date.available

2000

Author dc:creator

• Lane, Jonnie Ann

Contributors dc:contributor

• Joginder Nath.

• Genetics
• Obstetrics

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/1127

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-2130