Publications by authors named "Melanie A J Engels"
Increased nuchal translucency (NT) is associated with aneuploidy. When the karyotype is normal, fetuses are still at risk for structural anomalies and genetic syndromes. Our study researched the diagnostic yield of prenatal microarray in a cohort of fetuses with isolated increased NT (defined as NT ≥ 3.
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- The study aimed to assess how effective first-trimester Down syndrome screening is when conducted at different weeks of pregnancy, focusing on serum sampling from 35,431 singleton pregnancies between 2005-2011.
- Analysis found no significant difference in detection rates of Down syndrome across the gestational weeks, but the false-positive rates increased as sampling was done later, particularly after week 10.
- It was noted that early sampling (before 11 weeks) generally led to better screening outcomes, especially for women aged 36 and older, who faced a higher risk of false positives.
Evaluation of the introduction of the national Down syndrome screening program in the Netherlands: age-related uptake of prenatal screening and invasive diagnostic testing.
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
March 2014
Objective: To study the effect of different government prenatal screening (PNS) policies on the uptake of PNS and prenatal diagnostic testing (PND) over the periods 2001-2003 (PNS on request), 2004-2006 (permission to offer the first-trimester combined test (FCT) to women of advanced maternal age (AMA), with women aged <36 years informed on explicit request) and 2007-2010 (introduction of population screening) and to evaluate whether trends in uptake are related to maternal age. The indication AMA for PND is still warranted, and the costs for FCT are only reimbursed for AMA women.
Study Design: Analysis of data on the first- and second-trimester screening program (n=41,600) for Down syndrome (DS) and on PND (n=10,795) performed from 2001 to 2010 in the region North-Holland of the Netherlands.
Objective: To validate previously computed correction factors for free β-human chorionic gonadotrophin (fβ-hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) pregnancies with hormone treatment and to determine the effect on false-positive rate (FPR).
Methods: Retrospective study on 249 IVF and 250 ICSI cases and 20,190 controls. Correction factors 1.
Objective: To evaluate the performance of the first-trimester combined test (FCT) in different maternal age groups and to discuss whether adjustments in screening policies should be made.
Methods: In this retrospective study data (n = 26 274) from a fetal medicine center on FCT (maternal age, fetal NT, free β-human chorionic gonadotrophin, pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A) were studied.
Results: 70.
Objective: To describe the cases of 2 fetuses with aneurysms of the vein of Galen diagnosed prenatally.
Methods: The techniques used were conventional sonography, three-dimensional sonography, and ultrafast magnetic resonance imaging. On the basis of these imaging modalities, prognostic factors, such as drainage and secondary damage, were assessed.