Sacral Dimple? U/s needed

emmyloustu · October 2010

Eliza was born with a sacral dimple at the base of her spine, top of her bum. They did an ultrasound on it when she was born because they can be a marker for spina bifida, but her u/s was normal.

When she was a few weeks old she developed a hemangioma that begins at the dimple and spreads to her anus. Our pedi has been aware of both, but at her 9 mo appt, she asked if we had ever had the hemangioma looked at by a dermatologist since it is in such an odd place. We have not so she sent us over to Children's Hospital to have it looked at.

Derm said it is a rare type of hemangioma, but other than some occasional bleeding, if she was going to have complications from it, she likely already would have. She took some pics and wants to see it again in 3mo. She also asked about the dimple, told her u/s at birth was normal. She said she doesn't want to worry me, but that she would like to do a repeat u/s and make sure they examine the kidneys as well. I guess the dimple is not only a marker for spina bifida, but also for kidney disorders? U/s is this coming Monday.

I have been searching Dr. Google and I am not really finding anything about sacral dimples and kidneys. If anyone has anything to share, I would appreciate it.

In the mean time, if you could just think some good thoughts, I would appreciate it. I truly believe everything will be normal, but you just never know.

Sami8468 · October 2010

My cousins son had that and had surgery to fix it. I don't think that he has any kidney problems. I can ask her though.

Mouseygail · October 2010

I'll be thinking of you guys!! keep us updated!

BeccaLandes · October 2010

Asher has a dimple there, too, and I remember asking if it meant he had spina bifida, and the doctor said it was totally normal and nothing to worry about. Now I'm scared! Let us know how it goes, I think you are right, and everything will be totally normal.

cmw&tdm · October 2010

DD has one but it's very superficial and a doctor (at least a couple have looked her over) never even noticed it until I brought it up at 9 months. We never had an u/s. I know that having the hemangioma at the base of the spine can be a problem, I have a friend going through this with her son and I think the will have to have surgery on it at some point. As far as the sacral dimple, from what I remember looking up the risk was a tethered cord, which they can fix if they catch. I honestly don't know that much about it though.

I'll be thinking positive thoughts for you.

cmw&tdm · October 2010

BeccaLandes:
Asher has a dimple there, too, and I remember asking if it meant he had spina bifida, and the doctor said it was totally normal and nothing to worry about. Now I'm scared! Let us know how it goes, I think you are right, and everything will be totally normal.

They vary a lot in size, depth, and location. His is probably very low, not very deep and small like DD's.

vandelay · October 2010

Sending thoughts and prayers to you. I hope all comes back fine!

ABC-123 · October 2010

Thinking about you guys and hope that you get great results!

Temp848906437505510 · October 2010

Sending lots of good thoughts and prayers that it turns out to be just a dimple!

sliz · October 2010

this is really scaring me. We noticed that DD had a dimple back there but just thought it was some quirky little thing - none of her doctors/peds mentioned anything to us about it and she spent a week in the NICU after birth and has been to the pedi at least 4 times since her release for check-ups....i had no ideas it could be a sign of possible birth defects....

we checked today and it is deep - we can't see the bottom....it is at buried within her butt crack (you have to open the crack to see the dimple) - and there is a centimeter or so between it and her anus...i'm not sure if this is considered low enough down to be less serious...

ugh....i will be putting in a call to the pedi tomorrow....thanks for the post, I never would have known....we had all the testing done and my risk of NTD came back at 1/3800 (so essentially zero), I've had 3 different MFMs look at her since 17 wks on and u/s essentially every week or two since 25 wks on - no one saw any sign of defects - and I've taken a prenatal every day for like 3 years

galway · October 2010

My son does not have a sacral dimple, but does have other vertebral birth defects and he had a kidney ultrasound in the nicu after he was born. I guess often times spinal defects (even if it's just the dimple) are associated with kidney defects b/c these two things develop around the same time in utero, so if something went wrong with one, there's a chance it went wrong with the other. That being said, my son did not have any kidney defects - I'm sure they're just being thorough in checking...