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Improved prenatal aneuploidy screening using the novel advanced first‐trimester screening algorithm: A multicenter study of 10,017 pregnancies
Author(s) -
Schmidt Peter,
Hörmansdörfer Cindy,
Pruggmayer Michael,
Schütte Christian,
Neumann Armin,
Gerritzen Andreas,
Vaske Bernhard,
Hillemanns Peter,
Scharf Alexander
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.20509
Subject(s) - medicine , aneuploidy , false positive rate , obstetrics , gynecology , multicenter study , fetus , first trimester , population , prenatal screening , pregnancy , prenatal diagnosis , chromosome , statistics , biology , biochemistry , genetics , mathematics , environmental health , gene , randomized controlled trial
Purpose. It has been postulated that the maternal age component should be completely excluded from first‐trimester screening (FTS) for fetal aneuploidies. In this study, we tested a new algorithm known as advanced first‐trimester screening (AFS), which disregards maternal age. Method. In a multicenter study, FTS findings were retrieved from 10,017 pregnancies. FTS risk assessment was performed using the Nicolaides method, and the AFS score was calculated. The results of both methods were compared. Results. Within this population, 81 fetuses had an abnormal karyotype. The sensitivity of the 2 algorithms was 86.4%. When the AFS method was used, the positive predictive value rose from 9.6% (FTS) to 12.4% (AFS). Using AFS, the test positive rate could be decreased by 161 cases (−22.2%) ( p < 0.0001), due to a reduction of false positive cases. As a result, the false positive rate of AFS was 24.5% lower than that of FTS, while the same number of aneuploidies was detected. Conclusion. AFS can markedly reduce the rate of false positive test results. If these results are confirmed by larger multicenter studies, the new AFS will represent a great improvement in fetal aneuploidy screening. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2008