Verifi

[NicoleSarah]

Is anyone doing or had the Verifi blood test? I am 35 and debating wether to do the test or not. I am worried about false positives or false negatives. In my first pregancy with my daugter (in 2009), it was not avaliable and I got a 1/83 risk from the quad screening. My only option was to wait and see or do amnio. I did an amnio and everything was fine. I am pretty sure my blood test will put me at high risk again but I don't want to do the amnio.

 

[Peanutt]

That sounds similar to the test I'm waiting for results on, materniT21. Does it look for baby's DNA in your blood or is it only testing you?
I'm supposed to get results by tomorrow and am starting to freak out with the "what-ifs".

 

[Eclaire]

Nicole I just did verifi yesterday. The likelihood of false positives is much lower than quad screening. My understanding is that they look for the markers of the genetic abnormalities in the baby's DNA, thus providing a more accurate result than the ratios given in the quad screen and nt scans. If you test positive for a disorder your doctor will likely give you the option to confirm the results with amino or cvs.

I have heard of many women being marked as high risk for genetic disorders regardless of actual results from the quad screen and nt scan simply because of age. This test eliminates that bias completely.

For me the decision to do the test was easy. It is waiting for the results that is hard, unless you get results you weren't hoping for. Whatever you decide should be what you feel most comfortable with. Don't let any of us talk you into or out of it. Let us know how you decide to proceed, we will support you either way.

 

[StaceyM]

I did the Verifi test. It was easy, accurate, and non-invasive. There is always a chance of a false positive, but the more people who use the test, the better their accuracy is. I did some reading before hand, and it seems the most accurate for first time pregnancy with no prior miscarriages, but generally it is accurate for everyone except in very specific situations. I liked Verifi because it is the only NIPT that doesn't actually try to separate the fetal DNA from the maternal DNA (as the other NIPT tests do). Instead it reads abnormalities based on the combination DNA, assuming that anything that shouldn't be in the mother must be attributed to the baby's DNA. There's an argument that separating the DNA isn't necessarily 100% reliable. I had it at 13 weeks, and it was negative for everything. I also had the Quad maternal serum screening at 16 weeks, which also came back negative, so I assume that Verifi was pretty reliable It isn't covered in my province so I had to pay $1200 out of pocket (after taxes and the extra optional tests that Verifi does), but it was quite literally worth every penny. I don't regret paying for that peace of mind, and would do it again in a heartbeat.