SMART test

The SMART test is an innovative state-of-the-art first-trimester combined screening test that combines the strengths of two non-invasive fetal extracellular DNA-based chromosomal and gene disease tests with the strengths of high-tech diagnostic ultrasound.

This combined screening helps to detect nearly 100 different severe chromosomal or genetic diseases and congenital developmental defects in the fetus early on, which would otherwise remain undetected prenatally or which are only detected in the later period of pregnancy.

The following diseases can be detected with the SMART test:
 

•  Aneuploidies of chromosome 22 (including Down syndrome)
•  Sex chromosome anomalies (including Turner syndrome)
•  Rare chromosomal deletions and duplications <7Mb (including Williams syndrome)
•  9 clinically significant microdeletions (including DiGeorge syndrome)
•  44 different genetic diseases (including Noonan syndrome)
•  5 hereditary monogenic diseases (including cystic fibrosis)
•  Major severe congenital malformations (including spina bifida)
•  Major major heart defects (including transposition of the great arteries)

In addition to detecting fetal pathology, the SMART test also provides an opportunity to find those women who may experience the following serious complications during pregnancy:
 

•  Preeclampsia, during which a woman's kidney and liver function is impaired, protein enters the urine, and she develops high blood pressure, which in more severe cases can be accompanied by a life-threatening seizure syndrome.
•  Intrauterine growth retardation, where the fetus does not reach its growth potential and lags behind its peers in growth. Due to the lack of food and oxygen, the gynecologist must monitor the growth and well-being of these fetuses more often with ultrasound   examinations and, if necessary, induce labor prematurely if the child's well-being deteriorates.
•  Premature birth, which is due to a change in the structure of the cervix, as a result of which the cervix opens imperceptibly to the woman as the pregnancy progresses, and the child is born prematurely, where he is not yet able to cope with breathing, maintaining temperature and sucking on his own.
   

The SMART test is the best choice for parents who want to get as much information as possible about their unborn child.

• In addition to Down's, Edwards' and Patau's syndrome and sex chromosome pathologies, the PrenatalSafe Karyo Plus test allows the detection of other numerical and structural chromosome pathologies and 9 clinically important microdeletions, which significantly affect the health of the child, in the mother's venous blood.

•  With the GeneSafe Complete test, it is possible to obtain information about 29 different fetal single gene pathologies, which can cause 44 different new-onset and 5 genetic diseases inherited from parents, which are very often not detectable by ultrasound examination and which are often manifested only in the late period of pregnancy or in the first years of life.

•  Early diagnostic ultrasound examination of fetal developmental defects with early echocardiography at the 13th week of pregnancy gives the opportunity to detect up to 100 different developmental defects in the fetus. As part of the ultrasound examination, the blood flow indices of the woman's uterine vessels and the length of the cervix are also measured, on the basis of which it is possible to assess the possibility of preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation, and premature birth occurring during a given pregnancy.

The SMART test consists of two stages:
 

Stage I: Pre-NIPT ultrasound examination and blood test for the PrenatalSafe Complete Plus test (PrenatalSafe Karyo Plus test + GeneSafe Complete test) and hormone analysis (PAPP-A) with pregnancy history, arterial blood pressure and weight and height measurement at 10 weeks of pregnancy. In addition to the mother's venous blood analysis, the test also requires an analysis of the oral mucosa of the child's father.

Stage II: Early diagnostic ultrasound examination of fetal malformations at the 13th week of pregnancy.
 

•  Combined screening is performed for those whose pregnancy has lasted at least 10 full weeks (10 weeks + 0 days). If you want to know the duration of your pregnancy, please visit our pregnancy calculator.
•  With the combined test, it is also possible to find out the sex of the fetus if desired. We only offer the SMART test for single pregnancies.
•  If the blood test was given at the 10th week of pregnancy, the woman will find out the written answer of the combined screening with explanations immediately after the ultrasound examination performed at the 13th week of pregnancy.