posts related to: Down syndrome

Looking after yourself from early pregnancy

Going ahead with antenatal testing

Being tested If you are going to have a diagnostic test such as chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis, or you are perhaps travelling to a major hospital to have a high resolution ultrasound scan, try to take someone with you to support you. This is equally important if you are having a simple blood test but you have…

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Diagnostic tests in early pregnancy

What is involved in diagnostic test in early pregnancy and what does it involve? Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) This is a diagnostic test which can tell you for certain whether your baby has Down’s syndrome or another genetic abnormality. The test can’t tell you whether your baby has spina bifida. When is the test carried out? Between 11…

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Diary of a dad-to-be: week 23

Maria’s pregnancy has reached a major turning point. The week is dominated by the results of her latest scan. An irregularity has shownup, which could be an indicator of Down’s syndrome. What do we do ? She’s adamant that amniocentesis, a test which would confirm or deny the problem, is not the way forward. She’s…

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Antenatal testing – one mother’s story

Every year more than 700,000 women in the UK become pregnant and, as a result of antenatal testing, over 35000 will be told that their baby is at risk of a serious abnormality. Fiona was told that her first baby had a very high risk of Down’s syndrome. Here she explains how the news affected…

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Down’s Syndrome: What is it?

Down’s syndrome is a condition that is present in your baby from the time of conception and is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome. Chromosomes are present in every cell and carry the ‘blueprint’ for all our characteristics within our DNA. Each cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes, 46 in total. One from each pair comes from…

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Antenatal screening service offers private testing

Leeds Antenatal Screening Service (LASS), supported by Leeds University, provides antenatal screening for local NHS units but also offers private testing to women throughout the UK and abroad. LASS can test for the following disorders: Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome, neural tube defects, abdominal wall defects and cystic fibrosis. Testing for Down’s syndrome, using ultrasound and…

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New test can diagnose genetic problems at 7 weeks

A new blood test for pregnant women to detect genetic disorders in their children has raised new fears over ‘designer babies’. The simple test can diagnose conditions such as Down’s syndrome and cystic fibrosis. And it can give the gender of an unborn child at seven weeks – five weeks before the current time. Campaigners fear…

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Cluster of Down’s Babies

13 November, 2000 CLUSTER OF DOWN’S BABIES A CLUSTER of six Down’s syndrome babies has been born to women who attended the same Irish school in 1956 and 1957. The babies were born in the early 1980s but it has taken until now to study all the factors that might have contributed. Today it was…

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Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week

One in every 1,000 babies born in the UK is affected with Down’s syndrome and two babies are born with it every day, according to the UK’s Down’s Syndrome Association (DSA). National Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week (2-8 June) is organised by the DSA to raise understanding and knowledge about the condition, how it affects people…

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Increase in babies with Down’s Syndrome

As the facilities in mainstream schools have developed over the last 20 years, so have attitudes improved overall. More babies with Down’s syndrome are being born today than before pre-natal testing became widespread, as perceptions of the condition change. The year that screening was widely introduced in the UK, way back in 1989, saw 717…

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