Hi
Someone asked me abt AFP and Level 2 U/S.

AFP is Alpha Feto Protein Test.
They take blood from the mom and test to see if there is any fetal or genitic abnormality in the fetus. If this test comes positive (lots of false positives) then they do AmnioCentresis which is taking the amniotic liquid from the uterus and confirming its all ok. U dont need to do Amnio if u dont want to since its 1% risky.
My AFP came normal, so I didnt do it, some of my frends did Amnio. They do AFP between 18-22 weeks

Level 2 U/S is also done between 18-22 weeks.
Its like a normal u/s but they take so many measurements and see if baby is measuring right for the Gestational age. I think they also see if the placenta, cervix and the water content in uterus is all fine... They do this u/s for almost 20-30 minutes and make sure its all fine.

I live in the US and these two are very common here. I am not sure about the other countries

Take care and hope this was informative
Good Luck.
Bargavi Radhika replied. Hi

Glad to see all the +ve results in AFP test...been reading about it from the time i took the test...many who don't seem to trust the results too..have to wait for a week to know the results..cannot help but think about it sometimes..I hope everything goes fine..happy for u guys though..who got thru this period of waiting..and no problems..
Take care. Yogita replied. Hi Bargavi, Sandhya,
I am in US and I was the one who had asked about Second level u/s. Thanks for the information. Now I am clear as to what it is. I hv this ultrasound next month. But I didnt know that its known as second level u/s. Also thanks for the info. on AFP Tetra. Sandhya, since u wrote that ur dr. didnt call u regarding that and so it means its negative, I am also hoping the same as I too had my AFP Tetra blood test about 10 days back but my drs. office has not called me about it. Or do u think its better to call them and confirm with them??
Bye girls. Sandhya replied. I'm from Singapore and here also these tests are routine. The AFP here is called the Triple Test and the Level 2 u/s is called the Fetal Abnormality Test. I have had my AFP done, but since my gyn has not yet called me about the results, I'm hoping they're all negative. As for my Fetal Abnormality test, i'm glad it'll give me another chance to see if my babies are fine.... Mine's dune in 2 weeks....

Hope this was as informative as Bargavi's....

Sandhya