Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) is an early pregnancy blood test taken from the mother at 10+ weeks, that uses cutting-edge DNA technology to evaluate whether a baby has a high chance of a certain chromosomal condition.

As part of the national screening pathway, women are offered the ‘combined test’ in the first trimester of pregnancy. This evaluates hormonal blood levels with ultrasound findings to assess the chance of chromosomal or structural anomalies. Although the range of conditions that can be detected by this method is broader than the number of conditions identified by the SAFE test, the SAFE test has a higher detection rate for Down’s, Patau’s and Edward’s syndrome.

During pregnancy, the placenta sheds cell-free DNA (cfDNA) into the mother’s bloodstream. As a result, the mother’s blood contains a mixture of placental and maternal cfDNA. By evaluating the cfDNA in the blood and combining this with the mother’s background chance of a trisomy (mother’s age or the combined test results offered within the NHS), a likelihood ratio is obtained to predict whether the baby is more likely to have a chromosomal condition such as Down’s syndrome.

Health First Surrey provides private early pregnancy clinic services detailed below.

Prenatal Tests

Please click on each test to view more information about the package.