The most important part of this scan at 12 weeks is the health and wellbeing of your baby. This gets assessed prior to measuring the Nuchal translucency.

The area at the back of the baby’s neck is then assessed. All babies have some fluid in this area, but excess fluid has been associated with an increased risk of Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities. This area of fluid is transient and disappears later in the pregnancy for normal fetuses as well as Down syndrome fetuses. For this reason, the area of fluid is best
measured between 12 and 13½ weeks of pregnancy.

Not all babies that have a high risk result have Down syndrome but the result may help you decide if you wish to investigate further with a diagnostic test.