Systematic screening in Israel provides the opportunity to diagnose risks of giving birth to a child with anatomical or psychological defects caused by chromosomal abnormalities and mutations during early intrauterine development. At the Top Ichilov Center, screening is conducted using high-precision ultrasound equipment and modern laboratory setups.
For systematic screening during pregnancy, non-invasive diagnostic methods (ultrasound and blood tests) are used, and if non-invasive tests reveal a significant risk of abnormalities, invasive diagnostics (amniocentesis, etc.) are performed for a more accurate prognosis.
Conducting Systematic Screening at Top Ichilov
Many women believe that systematic screening is a waste of time. If the expectant mother feels fine, why undergo additional examinations? Then there’s the anxiety of waiting for test results. However, screening is still necessary.
Screening consists of one or often several tests that people in a specific category undergo. In the case of prenatal screening, this category includes pregnant women. Screening is designed to detect developmental pathologies in the fetus at an early stage. This screening consists of ultrasound and biochemical blood testing. Comprehensive processing of ultrasound and biochemical data allows for the prediction of risks for genetic disorders in the fetus – such as Down syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Edwards syndrome, etc.
Approximately 90% of all pregnant women in Israel undergo screening – nearly all who register at a women's clinic and are officially monitored by obstetricians-gynecologists.
Ultrasound has a relatively high accuracy of about 65-85%, and the ultrasound diagnostic machines used at the Top Ichilov Center can increase this to 70-87%. As a result, our specialists achieve a significant reduction in the likelihood of false predictions at the initial screening stage.
If screening reveals high risks of pathology, more detailed studies follow, through which geneticists establish the cause of the problem more thoroughly, and then – invasive diagnostics, including amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, etc. While prenatal screening, as a fairly comprehensive and routine study, is characterized by not very high accuracy, invasive diagnostics allow for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus much more accurately. It enables the direct examination of fetal cells and the identification of defects based not on indirect signs, as in the case of ultrasound, but on direct examination of chromosomes.
One of the new screening methods is the DOT test. It allows for the study of the child's DNA based on the mother's blood sample. This test provides the opportunity, firstly, to establish the presence of pathology, and secondly – to accurately determine the child's sex. While standard tests diagnose potential risks based on concentrations of proteins or antibodies in the mother's blood (if the woman falls into the risk group, she must undergo invasive diagnostics), the DOT test can serve as an excellent alternative to such diagnostics. Israeli doctors believe that soon such tests will successfully replace invasive diagnostic methods and will themselves become an integral part of systematic screening.
The non-invasiveness is one of the advantages of the DOT test. The main benefit of this diagnostic method is its extremely high accuracy, significantly surpassing that of biochemical studies (up to 99%). The popularity of this test is growing every year – if at the very beginning of its introduction into prenatal screening studies, tens of thousands of women underwent the test, now in the USA, China, and Europe, hundreds of thousands of expectant mothers undergo the DOT test annually.
According to the results of several dozen recent studies, the accuracy of non-invasive prenatal testing of cell-free DNA is very high. This screening method is particularly sensitive in detecting Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome, and Patau syndrome. On average, the sensitivity of the test for Down syndrome was 99.3%, and for Edwards syndrome and Patau syndrome – 97.4%.
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Systematic Screening in Israel – Price
The government of the State of Israel pays close attention to screening diagnostics and the treatment of genetic pathologies. This is partly due to a somewhat higher incidence of fetal developmental defects compared to average statistical indicators in other countries. Thanks to the active involvement of the state, systematic screening in Israel is significantly different in cost from similar diagnostics in other countries. For example, the price for systematic screening in Israel is lower than in the United Kingdom or the USA by 30-50%.
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Screening at the Top Ichilov Clinic – Reliable Methods, Quick Results
- The clinic's specialists have extensive experience in diagnosing genetic disorders using both non-invasive and invasive techniques. All studies are conducted in a timely manner.
- Top Ichilov employs the most advanced technologies and modern tests.
- Systematic screening in Israel: cost – lower, result accuracy – higher. Top Ichilov often has discount programs: leave a request and find out if you are eligible for a discount.
- Systematic screening in Israel: reviews. High accuracy is confirmed by reviews: thousands of women have undergone the study in the prenatal department of Top Ichilov and have given birth to healthy babies. Those patients who had developmental pathologies detected received timely medical assistance.
- The organization of diagnostics is handled by the staff of the international department: patients are relieved of solving everyday and medical issues.