RP: bright spot on the heart?

bunches916

I had my ultrasound done last Friday at 20 weeks. Great news is, we're having another little girl. The bad news is a genetic counselor called me this morning and told me that she has a tiny bright spot on her left ventricle, which is calcium deposit. She tried to make it sound good by saying about 20% of healthy babies have this and are totally fine, but there's a slight chance that the baby may have Downs. What does this all mean??? I'm so scared. We declined any genetic testing to begin with because when we did it with our 1st DD, it showed some abnormalities and I was freaked out the entire pregnancy. Now its happening all over again. I have yet to discuss this with DH because he's at work. But the genetic counselor said we can do an amnio or the MaterniT21 test (which won't be covered by our insurance). Please educate me on this issue. I'm freaked out.

caden1206

I don't have any advice other than maybe get some genetic screening now to maybe rule out anything.  I pray that everything resolves. 

Anne22202

That is a very controversial soft marker, especially on its own.  Same thing was found with my daughter, and she is fine!   I did have an amnio bc of other concerns found at the same time.  I didn't have the option 3 years ago of the maternit21.   Chances are she is fine!  Good luck!

bunches916

Anne22202:

That is a very controversial soft marker, especially on its own.  Same thing was found with my daughter, and she is fine!   I did have an amnio bc of other concerns found at the same time.  I didn't have the option 3 years ago of the maternit21.   Chances are she is fine!  Good luck!

 Thanks so much for your info. I've done research online and found this to be more and more common. And the babies come out perfectly healthy. The genetic counselor did mention that it is a pretty controversial soft marker and that about 20% of pregnancies have these and they come out healthy. So I'm feeling a little bit better. Of course I still have that slight fear because you never know. I just wish I can have a worry-free pregnancy for once. But when is it ever "worry-free," right? 

audbeach

We had exactly the same situation with our first daughter and she is absolutely a healthy 2 and a half year old.  I actually do heart ultrasounds on adults for my job and was concerned when we saw the spot on the heart during my 20 week ultrasound.  Our doctor also told us it could signal Downs and like you we decided against genetic testing.  We did, however, go for a fetal echocardiogram which takes a much more indepth look at the heart.  Our pediatric cardiologist that read the test said everything else looked great (no other abnomalities that are often associated with Downs) and that this was a fairly common issue.  He said it was just a highly reflective papillary muscle or chordae (normal variants in the heart).

Don't worry too much over this finding.  It's most likely completely normal!