Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun 1;143(6):811-814.
doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005577. Epub 2024 Apr 11.

Trends in Reporting of Nuchal Translucency Measurements After the Clinical Introduction of Cell-Free DNA Screening

Timothy Wen  1 , Loralei L Thornburg, Mary E Norton, Lawrence D Platt, Lorraine Dugoff, Ashley Hesson, Jean L Spitz, Gregory Toland, Bryann Bromley; Nuchal Translucency Quality Review Program of the Perinatal Quality Foundation
Affiliations

Trends in Reporting of Nuchal Translucency Measurements After the Clinical Introduction of Cell-Free DNA Screening

Timothy Wen et al. Obstet Gynecol. .

Abstract

Nuchal translucency (NT) measurement in conjunction with serum analytes has been used for first-trimester aneuploidy screening in the United States since 2005. We sought to analyze the trends in reporting of NT measurements to the Nuchal Translucency Quality Review program in all pregnancies beginning after the clinical introduction of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) screening for fetal aneuploidy in 2011. Overall, reported NT measurements decreased 74.3% from 2012 to 2022. A similar decline was noted among individuals with pregnancies at increased risk for aneuploidy based on patient age and twin gestations. The decrease in reporting aligns temporally with the availability of cfDNA screening and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Financial Disclosure Dr. Wen serves as a consultant and as Associate Chief Medical Officer on the Medical Advisory Board for Delfina Care Inc. Dr. Dugoff reports research support from Labcorp, Sequenom, Natera and Myriad. Dr. Platt serves as a consultant for General Electric Healthcare and serves on the advisory board for Natera, Pulsenmore, Nuvocares, Mahmee, and Triceimaging. The remainder of the authors do not report any disclosures. The other authors did not report any potential conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Screening for fetal chromosomal abnormalities. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 226. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Obstet Gynecol 2020;136:e48–69. doi. 10.1097/aog.0000000000004084 - DOI
    1. Malone FD, Canick JA, Ball RH, Nyberg DA, Comstock CH, Bukowski R, et al. First-trimester or second-trimester screening, or both, for Down's syndrome. New Engl J Med 2005;353:2001–11. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa043693 - DOI
    1. D'Alton ME, Fuchs KM, Abuhammad A, Benacerraf B, Berkowitz R, Cuckle H, et al. Implementation of a national nuchal translucency education and quality monitoring program. Obstet Gynecol 2014;123:149–54. doi. 10.1097/aog.0000000000000058 - DOI
    1. Thornburg LL, Bromley B, Dugoff L, Platt LD, Fuchs KM, Norton ME, et al. United States' experience in nuchal translucency measurement: variation according to provider characteristics in over five million ultrasound examinations. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol2021;58:732–7. doi. 10.1002/uog.23621 - DOI
    1. National Cancer Institute. Joinpoint trend analysis software. Accessed November 15, 2021. https://surveillance.cancer.gov/joinpoint/