Trust & Confidence

3D ultrasound and amnios at DUC

I am always amazed at the third hand amnio-horror stories that seem to get passed on to pregnant women by well wishing friends and relatives. For sure, every complication that can befall a pregnancy seems to be blamed on an it.

Think about it: a tiny amnio needle makes a miniscule track through skin, uterus, membranes, and perhaps a thin section of placenta. The membranes seal instantly when the needle is withdrawn and heal completely within a few hours. There is no way that this minor incident can predispose to problems later in pregnancy.

At least 6 % of patients scheduled for early amnios cancel their appointments, because embryonic demise and/or miscarriage have already occurred. The spontaneous loss rate is very high in the first few weeks of pregnancy, becoming progressively lower each week afterwards, but it never drops to zero! The "background" loss rate for the second trimester of pregnancy is about 3%, whether an amnio is done or not. If something goes wrong, it is natural to try to assign blame. It is wrong to assume that the amnio had to be the cause of whatever might have happenned. No procedure is without risk, although that risk can be made very, very low when the procedure is understood.

Very early NT in a 7 week embryo, no yolk sac

Ultrasound and amniocentesis are inseparable partners. Like any other medical interaction, the physician and the patient have to accept each other. The patient provides complete trust and the physician applies all of his or her skill and experience to do the very best for the patient. We have complete trust in our geneticist colleagues, who do the chromosome analyses for us and our patients. We are very demanding of laboratory services, and having selected facilities that we feel are the best anywhere in their specialty, we trust them to do their job, just as you trust us to do ours.

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