Serum PAPP-A measurements in first-trimester screening for Down syndrome |
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| Authors: | P. A. Hurley Mr R. H. T. Ward B. Teisner R. K. Iles M. Lucas J. G. Grudzinskas |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College London Medical School, 86–96 Chenies Mews, London WC1, U.K.;2. Division of Immunology, State Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark;3. Joint Academic Unit of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Physiology, The Royal London Hospital Medical College, Whitechapel and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, West Smithfield, London, E1 1BB, U.K. |
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| Abstract: | ![]()
Serum PAPP-A measurements taken from 254 women in the first trimester are reported. Eleven chromosomal abnormalities were detected. The mean serum PAPP-A levels in cases of Down syndrome were 0.44 MOM at 9 weeks gestation, 0.15 MOM at 10 weeks, and 0.29 MOM at 11 weeks. The PAPP-A level at 10 weeks was below those of pregnancies which aborted spontaneously. At 11 weeks, the pregnancies with Down syndrome recorded the lowest PAPP-A levels at that gestation. On this small sample, offering chorionic villus sampling to women with singleton pregnancies and a PAPP-A level below 0.3 MOM (approximately 6.5 per cent of this at-risk group) would have detected all the Down syndrome fetuses at 10 weeks and 50 per cent at 11 weeks without selecting those cases destined to abort. This suggests that serum PAPP-A should continue to be investigated as a potential first-trimester screening test for Down syndrome. |
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| Keywords: | PAPP-A First-trimester screening Down syndrome |
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