Harmony scan

[Steveohim]

Has anyone had the harmony scan? Is it worth the £500?
We are currently booked in at the beard mill clinic in Oxford next month for a harmony scan for Down syndrome, we want to be sure it hasn't got downs, can anyone recommend this test? My wife is 36

 

[LD1978]

I have never had it done but my friend was in her 40s and went to that clinic and said they were brilliant (the lady who runs it I think)

 

[Steveohim]

I have never had it done but my friend was in her 40s and went to that clinic and said they were brilliant (the lady who runs it I think)

Thanks that's good to know


Thanks

 

[louise2610]

If I was you I would hold off. Wait for your combined testing at 12 weeks. IF results come back as high risk then go for the harmony. I understand your concerns I'm 38. All bring well I'll be 39 when baby us burn. Good luck!!!

 

[rach4910]

I'd wait for your scan. If you come back high risk the hospital offer you what is essentially a harmony test. For me it was called a SAFE test but it does the same thing and is then free X

 

[Steveohim]

I'd wait for your scan. If you come back high risk the hospital offer you what is essentially a harmony test. For me it was called a SAFE test but it does the same thing and is then free X

It's not free, it's £400, the midwife told us about it last weekend


Thanks

 

[rach4910]

It's free if you are classed as high risk following the scan and combined blood test. Your risk as to be under 1:150. I had it myself as was 1:110 for Down's.

 

[scn]

Not everywhere is offering it for free just yet. It'll come eventually but sadly for a lot of us we have to pay xx

 

[rach4910]

Ah ok fair enough. The specialist midwife we saw seemed to think it was free for all now if high risk X

 

[Steveohim]

No def not free, it's £400 if high risk at the hospital

 

[Rhiandell]

Not everywhere offer Harmony on NHS at all. I had a pretty long talk with a specialist midwife because of me finding out that I have twins when they were meant to do the scan. And the only thing they offer here is the invasive tests.

Sent from my SM-G850F using Tapatalk

 

[helenmelon5]

I went to the fetal medicine centre in Harley street for the same cost. The scans there are very in-depth - they even gave me the sex of the baby at 13 weeks . The consultants there are top of their field in Fetal medicine.

http://www.fetalmedicine.com

I had fairly good odds with my initial scans this pregnancy given my age but went for a package that they did that included the Harmony Scan. For approx £500 for all. Professor Nickolides ( sp ) is the top of his field. Its as precise as you'll get without a diagnostic test - which Harmony is not.

If you want a definite yes or no only a CVS or Amnio can give you this. This can only give you your risk factors -

The Harmony test will only give you a low or high risk. I was told by the Fetal Medicine Centre based on my scans ( at 41 ) and bloods and if the Harmony test came back low risk I could relax - It did and so I did . I have to add - Nothing is ever risk free and this can only rule out the major chromosomal abnormalities . I have also been to their in a past pregnancy and had scans and a CVS carried out by the professor ( this can give you more details on other abnormalities. ) I went there initially after high risk in a previous pregnancy because he is the best and he is the best at carrying out CVS from my research. I had high risk from my initial nuchal scans and bloods and the CVS showed no to all 3 major chromosomal abnormalities, it did however show other abnormalities in genetics that wouldn't have registered in anything other than this diagnostic test but I must add were made clear to them in their in-depth scans done by the professor that the baby had problems and so we were prepared for these results .

I believe if the results are high risk at the fetal medicine centre with the package I had then you get a CVS test if recommended but this may have changed and you'd have to go on their website for more details.

 

[Pumpkin9]

I had a harmony test done privately in Cambridge at the Rosie hospital there. I can def recommend it. We'd already had the nt test on the nhs and the neck measurement came back at the very high end of normal (3.2mm) with my son t was nowhere near this so freaked me out abit that we might have a problem, so before the combined result came back including the blood test I booked the harmony.

I saw a consultant who did another scan which was very through looking at all aspects of the babies physiology and he also showed me 4d images of the face. Took a blood test which got sent to California (had to sign lots of paperwork for this) and then about 10-14 days later we found out that there was less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of the baby having the trisomy conditions they test for (nhs result had come back at 1 in 620). We also were given the option of finding out the sex with a greater than 99% accuracy so opted for his and found out we were having a baby girl.

Fab experience all round, if only I could have gone private for the whole thing!!

 

[CharlieSmartie]

I've had the harmony test done for two pregnancies. First one we were told 1in5 chance of abnormality after the NHS screening, had test done, confirmed Down Syndrome, confirmed by amino, but who process from 12 week scan to results took about 5 weeks. So this time round we went for private Harmony test at 10 weeks to get ahead of the game. Glad we did as didn't end up having NHS scan until 14 weeks, also as we are having twins they would have had trouble doing the NHS screening test.

Personally if you can afford the money then I strongly recommend doing it.