Re: AFP?

[Guest guest]

Alpha-feto-protein. It's a blood test that *sometimes* indicates the

presence of neural tube defect or Down Syndrome, but also throws a false

" positive " result occasionally.

-Kris

on 7/8/04 6:22 PM, Trisha at trisha_d@... wrote:

What does that mean?

[Guest guest]

The test is only about 20% accurate!!!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/9/2004 8:38:55 AM Eastern Standard Time,

Meribritt1@... writes:

The test is only about 20% accurate!!!

I'm not sure where the across the board 20% accuracy comes from, but this is

just one of multiple articles where I found it has a much higher accuracy

(85%) of detecting neural tubes, and about a 20% accuracy of Down's detection.

If you have the triple screen, the accuracy of the Down's screening

doubles/triples to 40%-60% accuracy.

It's a personal decision and each person has to decide whether the worry

versus peace of mind versus outcome of the results are worth it to them.

Mandi in Concord, NC

country to country and state to state. In California, one of the largest

populations studied, about 16 in 1,000 women who take the test show a high level

of alpha-fetoprotein. But on average, only one of these women's babies will

actually have anencephaly, spina bifida, or abdominal wall defects. About 45

in 1,000 have a low MSAFP reading. But only one or two will have babies with

Down syndrome or trisomy 18. The odds also change with a woman's age and other

factors.

The MSAFP offers about 85 percent accuracy in assessing open neural tube and

abdominal wall defects, but only 20 to 25 percent accuracy for Down syndrome.

The multiple marker screen also offers about 85 percent accuracy for

detecting open neural tube and abdominal wall defects. Its accuracy rate for

chromosomal disorders is higher than the MSAFP's: It finds about 40 to 60

percent of

Down syndrome--- with a false positive rate of about 5 percent -- and 50

percent of trisomy 18 cases.