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This article is from the Pregnancy Screening FAQ, by Lynn Gazis-Sax (gazissax@netcom.com) with numerous contributions by others.

7. How early can an amnio be done?

Amniocentesis is most commonly done between the sixteenth and
eighteenth week of pregnancy (using the usual pregnancy dating system
of counting the weeks from the last period, rather than from
conception). In some places, it is experimentally offered as early as
twelve weeks. After the amnio is done, it takes two to four weeks to
get the results.

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From Dr. T. Reynolds:

Some early results of 'early amnio' are not encouraging with
miscarriage rates of 3-5% as a result of early amnio compared with
0.5% for week 16.

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From Rob Brenner, MD:

Most amniocentesis is done at 16-18 weeks. Late amniocentesis is
often done in the third trimester to determine fetal lung maturity if
early delivery is indicated. Some centers are performing
amniocentesis as early as 12 weeks but the pregnancy loss rate is
higher.

 

Continue to:

• prev: 6. Under what circumstances is amnio usually given?
• Index
• next: 8. What about chorionic villus sampling (CVS) as an alternative to amnio?

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children, child, kid, amniocentesis, pre-pregnancy and pregnancy test, afp screen and the triple screen, ultrasound