13 week ultrasound

In the Netherlands, an ultrasound has been offered for years when you are 20 weeks pregnant. This is to investigate whether the baby has any physical abnormalities. If abnormalities are found, they are often serious physical abnormalities such as an open back, an abdomen that is not closed, abnormalities of the bones, kidneys or heart.

Since October 2021, it has been decided to conduct this research before the 20th week of pregnancy, namely at 13 weeks. The reason for this is to detect earlier whether your baby may have serious abnormalities. Serious physical abnormalities can cause your child to have a poorer quality of life later. Your child can ultimately die from some serious physical abnormalities. This way you can choose whether you want to do follow-up research earlier to know for sure whether your child is affected by this, whether you want to carry the pregnancy to term or want to terminate it.

When

It is important that you have this ultrasound done when you are 12 weeks and 3 days pregnant or at the latest at 14 weeks and 3 days of pregnancy. Before or after this time, the ultrasound is no longer reliable.

The echo

The ultrasound is basically made through the outside of your abdomen. If the sonographer cannot get a good look at the baby, she will have to perform an ultrasound through the vagina. This is not mandatory, you can refuse this. At 20 weeks you can make a new ultrasound appointment that is done via the abdomen.

Reliability

About 5 in 100 children have a physical abnormality 13 week ultrasound. It cannot be said with certainty that this is really a serious abnormality, which requires further research. Both the ultrasound and the follow-up examination are not mandatory.

The ultrasound does not rule out 100% that your child has a condition, because not all conditions are discovered before birth. So realize that there is always a small chance that your child may still have an abnormality, even if the ultrasound results are good.

An abnormal result

If an abnormality is found on the ultrasound, we do not always know whether this abnormality will have consequences for the child. Therefore, further research is needed.
You can choose whether you want to have follow-up research done, but this is not mandatory.

Follow-up research

The follow-up examination consists of an extensive ultrasound performed by a gynecologist. Sometimes an amniocentesis or blood test is also done in a specialized hospital.

Risks of follow-up research

With an amniocentesis there is a small chance of miscarriage, namely 1 in 1000. With a chorionic villus sampling this chance is 1 in 500.

Deviation confirmed after follow-up examination

If follow-up testing shows that your baby does indeed have a serious condition, you will always be interviewed by one or more doctors. You will be guided in making the choice whether you want to carry the pregnancy to term or terminate it.

Free

The 13 week ultrasound is free.

Scientific study

The reliability of the ultrasound at 13 weeks is currently being investigated. If you decide to have the 13-week ultrasound scan, you must agree that the results will be used for research. To do this, you must first sign a consent form through us.

Do you have any questions about the 13 week ultrasound? Then take a look www.pns.nl or feel free to ask us your questions, we are happy to help you.