ALL pregnancies are at risk for birth defects. FetalScreening.com is an educational website devoted to pregnant patients and their physicians for the purpose of providing  information about many of the important birth defects and how to test for them.   

Tests for birth defects may be considered either as screening tests or diagnostic tests.  Screening tests help identify which patients might benefit from diagnostic tests such as genetic amniocentesis.  Both screening and diagnostic tests are now available for Down syndrome as well as multiple other conditions.  

"Advanced" maternal age (35 and older at birth) was the initial screening test for fetal Down syndrome.  While maternal age is important to consider, more accurate screening tests have been developed during the last 2 decades that also consider differences in maternal blood and/or ultrasound findings. These ultrasound tests may be performed either during the first trimester (nuchal translucency testing) or second trimester (genetic sonogram). In the vast majority of cases, these screening methods will correctly recognize that the fetus does not have Down syndrome, even among older women.  In this way, more accurate fetal screening methods help to save fetal lives that otherwise might be lost due to invasive testing.  

30 weeks 3D ultrasound & 32 weeks post-delivery