Noninvasive Prenatal Screening

Noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS/NIPT) tests can screen for trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and other chromosomal abnormalities—as well as the sex of your baby—as early as nine weeks into your pregnancy, and with a high degree of accuracy.

Labcorp offers flexibility across our NIPS (NIPT) screening options, talk to your doctor about which option may be right for you

MaterniT® 21 PLUS, the pioneering NIPS (NIPT), screens for common trisomies (such as trisomy 21, Down syndrome), and can be customized to screen for more conditions (eg, DiGeorge syndrome).

GENOME-Flex, a new NIPS (NIPT) high risk pathway. Rapidly re-sequence previously run MaterniT 21 PLUS samples using MaterniT GENOME when late stage anomalies are suspected. Now you have options if a second NIPS (NIPT) is required.

MaterniT® GENOME reports on every chromosome to tell you even more about your baby’s health—our most robust NIPS (NIPT) offering.

Understanding Your MaterniT Results

This video explains what your MaterniT results mean and what next steps or other testing you might consider.

Understanding the difference

NIPS (NIPT) vs. Serum Screening vs. Diagnostic Tests

You may choose to have NIPS (NIPT), a serum screening test, a diagnostic test, a combination of the tests, or no testing at all. Here are the most important differences between the tests:

NIPS (NIPT)

• Can be performed as early as nine weeks
• Tells you the chances of your baby having a chromosomal abnormality such as trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and—depending on the type of NIPS (NIPT) you choose—many more conditions
• Screens for fetal sex
• Done via a maternal blood sample from the mother’s arm
• Can require diagnostic testing to confirm a positive result (a “positive result” likely means the baby is affected)

Serum Screening

• Can be performed as early as 10 weeks
• Done via a maternal blood sample from the mother’s arm
• Tells you the chance that your baby could have trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), and when drawn after 15 weeks, open neural tube defects (such as spina bifida)
• Sometimes show a high risk even when the baby does not have one of these problems

NOTE: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that women with a “high risk” maternal serum screening result be offered diagnostic testing. 1 Women with a “low risk” result often choose not to have diagnostic testing.

Diagnostic Tests

• Can be performed as early as 10 weeks (CVS) or 15 weeks (amniocentesis)
• Tell you with greater than 99% accuracy whether your baby is affected or is not affected with Down syndrome or trisomy 18
• Tell you with greater than 90% accuracy whether your baby is affected with an open neural tube defect
• Can test for other genetic disorders when additional risks are identified in a patient’s history

NOTE: Not even diagnostic testing can show all birth defects or genetic diseases. No test is perfect: even when all the results of diagnostic testing are normal, all pregnancies still have approximately a 3-5% risk of birth defects.