Prenatal Diagnostics
Guidance during your pregnancy
Harmony NIPT is a DNA-based blood screening test that measures the probability of chromosomal conditions as early as 10 weeks in pregnancy.
Harmony NIPT is a DNA-based blood screening test that measures the probability of chromosomal conditions as early as 10 weeks in pregnancy.
When you are pregnant, your blood contains fragments of your baby’s DNA. Harmony NIPT is a test that analyzes DNA in a sample of your blood to evaluate the probability of trisomy, sex chromosomeaneuploidies, microdeletion and gender.
Harmony NIPT requires a single blood draw. It can be done as early as 10 weeks or later in pregnancy.
Ultrasound should be performed before drawing the blood sample. In part to determine the pregnancy week and in part to see the number of fetuses. There are som advantages to do the ultrasound in week 12 when the babies development and organs are more easily determined.
The Harmony Prenatal Test is a screening test that is more accurate than traditional combined serum and nuchal translucency (FTS = KUB).1 The Harmony test is much less likely to give a false-positive result compared to traditional tests such as the first trimester screening test.1 That means there will be much less chance your doctor would recommend follow-up diagnostic testing, such as amniocentesis.2
Harmony tests for certain genetic conditions, trisomy 21 (Downs syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edward syndrome) and trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome). In addition, with Harmony you have the option to evaluate fetal sex, X and Y sex chromosomes. Analysis of analysis of the likelihood for the microdeletion 22q11.2 can be done at an added cost.
Non-invasive prenatal testing based on cell-free DNA analysis is not considered diagnostic. Once you have your Harmony test results, you can discuss your pregnancy care with your healthcare provider.
1. Norton et al. N Engl J Med. 2015 Apr 23;372(17):1589-972.
2.Wax et al. J Clin Ultrasound 2015 Jan; 43(1):1-6.