NT、NIFTY or Harmony Test,which is better?

Lesiley

Lesiley

Registered User
Hi Ladies,

I am 10 weeks now, trying to make an appointment for my 12 weeks check-up with my OB. My last OB suggested me to do NIFTY test around 11 weeks, but new OB's nurse suggested me to do Harmony test instead of NIFTY, also because in their practice they don't do NIFTY any more. In the meanwhile, I have also noticed that many to-be-moms mentioned NT as well. I am really confused about what to do at this stage, my question is : which test is more suitable and accurate but less risk for me to do in 2weeks time? Any suggestions? Thanks a lot.

P.S What about the costs?



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Nuchal Translucency (NT) is a measurement of the amount of fluid behind your baby's neck. It's usually done around the time of your 12-week scan. Babies with Down's often have increased fluid behind the neck, although some babies without Down's may have increased fluid too. The NT is often done in conjunction with OSCAR which is a blood test which measures the levels of two maternal hormones (HCG and PAPP-A) which combined with mother's age & weight, NT measurement and baby's lengths gives you a probability (catergorised as Low or High Risk). It's about 90% accurate with 5-7% false positive. OSCAR is cheaper than NIFTY/Harmony.

NIFTY and Harmony are DNA tests, that sequence fetal DNA from the mother's blood sample. They are very similar (slight differences in sequencing method) but NIFTY is done in Shenzhen and Harmony in USA. Harmony is more expensive than NIFTY. Both are >99% detection rate with less than 1% false positive so are more sensitive than NT + OSCAR. They also give a probability and categorise you as Low or High Risk. NIFTY and Harmony also check for Trisomy 13, Trisomy 18 and sex chromosome conditions along with Down's (Trisomy 21).

All these are non-invasive so pose no risk to your baby.
 
@btc, after read your reply, I think have a more clear clue about how those tests work now. Central Health Care practice does Harmony, the charge is nearly 8K HKD, I haven't checked the cost of NIFTY with my former OB, but from the info I checked online, seems also around 7K HKD, not much big difference. Is the info right? If not, how much would NIFTY cost averagely in HK?
Thanks a lot.


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Other than that you have panorama and safe T21 available in hk. I am no doctor but did some research to realize that both these tests cover more chromosomes then the others and for both the samples are sent to the US. I chose safe T21 as the sample is sent to the sequenom lab in the US. Sequenom is the same company which offers Maternity t 21 in the us, which seems one of the more effective tests as per the internet research I did. The only drawback of safe t21 is that they do not reveal the sex of the child. But that was not my priority, my priority was to be sure that my baby was alright.
 
@illumination, thanks for your reply and new useful info, this is the first time I heard about Panorama and T21. May I ask where did you get your T21 test down? In private practice or public hospital? And how long does it take to get the result? What about the cost?

Cheers.



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Hello lesiley, I got mine at femina health care with dr. Shell wong. My experience was good. It cost me 8k hkd. The other place you can get it is prince of Wales hospital but sorry I do not have more info about that. Also wanted to add, I did mine after the oscar, which was done at a public hospital. My oscar numbers were very good but I wanted to be extra sure hence went for this test. Hope this helps.
 
@illumination, you are being very helpful. Thanks for the info you provided me, I will have a think and discuss with my hubby about those tests info I've collected so far. As to be moms, nothing is more important to make sure that the baby is healthy.


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@Lesiley, the pricing sounds about right, NIFTY cost $6500, I think Harmony was about $2000 more (maybe slightly more or less). They are essentially the same but some people are more comfortable with US-based lab rather than Shenzhen. OSCAR was about $1200.
 
I have done the Nifty Test on week 12 pregnancy and detect the gender of the baby, it varies from private doctor from HKD8k to 10k while it is the same group of scientists from T21 then after the split of their collective results, T21 was then formed and use a different lab and create the legal patent issue, but T21 was reported a few low technical issues in the medical industry therefore not highly recommended by the private doctor but not revealed by the press media.
 
Hi Lesiley,
I have done both tests in London, the Harmony Test (at week 10+1) and the Nuchal Translucency Scan (at week 12+3).

NT examines many things, The nuchal translucency thickness, but also organs like bladder, stomach, skull/brain, abdomen, heart, tricuspid flow. Th scan results are usually combined (hence, the name combined test or bi-test, at least in UK) with a blood test looking for a specific hormone levels and B-HCG in maternal blood (I have done this blood test too at week 10), and the mother's age, to give a probability of Down Syndrome (and also T13 and T18). Probability is expressed in low risk, medium risk or high risk. In case results show high or medium risk, doctors will usually recommend further enquiries.

Harmony Test (samples are sent to Ariosa lab in California) analyses the fetal dna that circulates in maternal blood from week 10.

Both NT and Harmony (Or Nifty, or any other commercial fetal DNA test) are great because they are not invasive or risky for mother and child, and they are very accurate. However, although they are quite accurate, they are still screening tests, not diagnostic, as btc wrote. They only diagnostic tests for Down Syndrome (and for many other genetic disorders) which give a 100% sure result are Amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (cvs), but unfortunately they have a 0.5 -1 % risk to provoke a miscarriage...

As btc, I have decided to do both harmony and TN to be on the safe side, but many people only do one or the other, if results are good.
I have to say that I have been advised by my doctor to have a NT scan anyway, regardless of the Harmony test, because with this early scan doctors can spot other abnormalities that are not necessarily linked to genetic disorders and that a dna test would not detect.

Unfortunately I cannot help regarding prices in HK.

@pollyrafiq, I was not aware of issues with T21! So, one more reason to be happy than I have done both tests ;)

And, hey, I am now finally in HK and look forward to meeting you all! Any gathering planned for the near future?
 
btc said:
@Lesiley, the pricing sounds about right, NIFTY cost $6500, I think Harmony was about $2000 more (maybe slightly more or less). They are essentially the same but some people are more comfortable with US-based lab rather than Shenzhen. OSCAR was about $1200.
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Thank you btc, the new OB's nurse just contacted me to arrange tests for me, but she mentioned NT, then Harmony, so does it mean NT a must do test before OSCAR/NIFTY/Harmony? Or is it optional? Because I read some posts, many mom complained about their NT experience, after they finished the NT test, they had blood came out which made them very nervous and uncomfortable. Also I haven't decided to do NIFTY or Harmony yet, if they both provide the same accurate results and essentially the same, just base on different lab locations, I wonder if it is necessary to spend extra for the same kind of ttest.


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pollyrafiq said:
I have done the Nifty Test on week 12 pregnancy and detect the gender of the baby, it varies from private doctor from HKD8k to 10k while it is the same group of scientists from T21 then after the split of their collective results, T21 was then formed and use a different lab and create the legal patent issue, but T21 was reported a few low technical issues in the medical industry therefore not highly recommended by the private doctor but not revealed by the press media.
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Hi Polly, thanks for your reply and more useful info about T21, I think it will stick with NIFTY or Harmony instead of T21. Have you done NT as well? I mean before you did NIFTY.



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@Lesiley - No need to worry. I'm not sure why people would equate blood coming out with NT scan as it's just part of the 12-week ultrasound (same as measuring baby's length). The Doctor does it from the ultrasound so it's completely non-invasive.

NT is just a measurement of the thickness/translucency Nuchal Fold at the back of the neck.

The OSCAR is a blood test - your blood not the baby's and the risk is calculated using maternal age & weight, maternal hormone levels, NT measurement and baby length. I got my results in 2-3 days.

Here's a link explaining NT screening.
 
Lesiley, no such requirement for NT if I have done Nifty, good enough and enough praying from one test to another, I will have morphology (structural) scan next weekend, that will require another praying too!
 
pollyrafiq said:
Lesiley, no such requirement for NT if I have done Nifty, good enough and enough praying from one test to another, I will have morphology (structural) scan next weekend, that will require another praying too!
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But I was required to do NT+NIFTY, I Thot NT is a must do test. If NIFTY is good enough and NT is optional, hope I can give NT a miss. Really confused.


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CoquinaHK said:
I posted a reply for Lesiley this afternoon but can not see it...
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Hi CoquinaHK, still thanks for your reply and concern. Maybe the system was busy this afternoon, sometimes it happens. Do you mind rewrite it and send again?



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@Lesiley and Rani, I can now see my post in the previous page. I hope it helps!
I am seeing Annerley people today for first advice on how to proceed in HK. Can't wait!
xxx
 
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