The Contingent Prenatal Screening Test for Down's Syndrome and Neural Tube Defects in West of Iran.

Background: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of contingent prenatal screening for the detection of Down's syndrome and neural tube defects (NTDs) in west of Iran. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 653 pregnant women referred to a medical diagnostic laboratory (Imam Reza Clinic, Kermanshah, Iran) for contingent prenatal screening tests between October 2016 to September 2017. Results: Among 651 women screened in the first trimester, 8 (1.22%) pregnancies were screen-positive for Down's syndrome. In the second trimester, among 605 women, 25 (4.13%) had a positive result and all of these women voluntarily underwent amniocentesis. Overall, five pregnancies were complicated with chromosomal abnormalities, including five cases of Down's syndrome. Conclusion: In a nutshell, the contingent prenatal screening tests were found to be useful for estimation of Down's syndrome as well as NTDs in both young and older mothers in west of Iran. These tests should be performed for pregnant women before an invasive test for Down's syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]