The triple test is no longer the most effective screening test for antenatal Down syndrome and consequently many national guidelines recommend other screening tests instead. Are there any robustly done studies?
Tim et al reported that new variation has been introduced not because the triple test has been unreliable ,rather because other test have proven most effective in terms of detection and triple test will remain relevant because it is the foundation in which current antenatal screening test for down syndrome are rooted.
Abnormal Triple Test results followed by ultrasound and amniocentesis may lead to the detection of 60 to 70% of pregnancies complicated with Down syndrome and many Trisomy 18 pregnancies. In addition to potential neural tube defects.
Triple test is a form of screening and although quadruple and combined first trimester tests give better results, it is still used when the latter two are not available. MsAFP component is also important to evaluate in Triple test, which is not evaluated in combined first trimester test. This is more of a question of availability and financial status of the area in question.
No prenatal non invasive test is yet reliable!. The answer to your question therefore is triple test is unreliable. As a result of this unreliability placental protein Pappa-A has been added to triple test to make it a Quadruple test with aim to make it more reliable. Despite this, quadruple test is also unreliable. Other prenatal tests as Nuchal thickness (NT), non invasive screening test (Harmony prenatal test) have all been introduced to reduce the number of women having (CVS & Amniocentesis) with the associated risks of miscarriage. Every non invasive test has its sensitivity and specificity. Until we are able to harvest reasonable enough fetal blood from maternal circulation for analysis we cannot say any non invasive test is specific.
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