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2nd Trimester
kaydogger
member
Will the Sonogram technician tell you something is wrong?
kaydogger
member
Hey 
I had my "20 week" anatomy scan yesterday and was wondering if the technician saw something abnormal, would they tell you there or wait until your next doctors appointment?(Which for me, isn't for another month!)
I'm sure I'm just being a first time mommy crazy person but my tech was pretty quiet the entire time. In the middle of the scan she asked if we did the nuchal thickness test which we did do. She then asked what the results were and we said they were really good (1 in 10,000+ for Downs and Trisomy syndromes which the doctor there said were the best odds you can get). Anyway, she then asked if we minded telling her where we got it done.We also did the Quad screening which came back negative.
I was wondering why she was asking these things and finally a couple minutes later I said "Were you asking because you were just curious or is there something wrong?" and she was a bit quiet and said "Well...I...a lot of people don't get them when them come in..." and went back to measuring her belly.
So at the end of the appointment she asked us to wait for the radiologist to go over our test results and we waited around for 15 minutes. She then came back and told us we were free to go. We had a late appointment so maybe they just left? I asked her if everything looked good and she only said that our doctor will go over everything at our next appointment. 
Am I just being totally paranoid?! Did anyone else have a similar experience?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Will the Sonogram technician tell you something is wrong?
Techs don't usually say much and they aren't allowed to tell you if anything looks off. I think it's a little odd your tech partially told you but all the same didn't.
If something is off they'd have sent it to the radiologist and then on to your dr. ASAP. If something was wrong your doc would've called you by now or you'd have stayed to speak to him.
Chances are it's fine. Medical professionals don't wait around with this sort of thing at all.
My understanding is that technicians are not supposed to provide any medical diagnosis information since they are not physicians. Their job is to essentially take all of the measurements, images, and video for the radiologist who will then review the information and provide the findings. The techs that did my ultrasounds were also somewhat quiet during the exams. I think it's because they really have to concentrate to get all of the necessary images. With a moving baby, that can be hard and it takes time.
At my medical office, the radiologist's findings are transcribed and sent to my doctor who will then give me the results. They told me there is a 2-3 business day turnaround for the radiologist report.
If you are concerned, I would call your doctor after a few days and see if the results from the radiologist came in and ask what they were.
My thought is no, they won't tell you anything. I don't know how other places work, but at my office, a neonatologist is there watching the whole u/s from another room. He comes in and does a little bit of the u/s at the end and tells me if there is anything that looks wrong or if it all looks good.
They will definitely call you today if something looked off. Even though your appointment was last night, I'd be surprised if they didn't get the results over to your doctor right away and if he/she was still there, they'd call you last night if something was off. Good luck to you. You can always call this morning to check the progress on the process.
The tech at the NT scan for our first pregnancy told us something was very wrong, and it was senior tech who confirmed that what they were seeing were fatal complications.
We were ushered into our doctor's office directly from there (well, not directly, I got to stand in the elevator lobby sobbing and freaking out everyone who passed for ten minutes, and then got to wait in the waiting room with all the happy mothers-to-be for another fifteen, but I digress.).
If there was something very obviously wrong, I would think you would be informed as soon as they possibly could.
We know our tech pretty well. We have had several u/s before our 20wks u/s. I went in and she started doing measurements and then shortly after it was over. She was pretty quite and had me wait in waiting room till reg Dr appt.
The findings she found were very substantial, thick nuchal fold, cystic hygroma , and 1 chamber heart instead of 4 chambers.
Dr came in right away and told us the findings.
She did call us the next day and said if I wanted to talk to call her private line.
Technician don't have the capability to diagnos. There job is to know how to get the images doctors need to look for things.
They ask when your next appointment will be so they know how soon the images need to get to the doctor. If you are truly concerned you have every right to call your doctor before your next appointment and ask about the U/S results.
I had my 20 week scan on Monday. When the tech was measuring the first baby I was curious so I asked her if those were normal measurements. She told me she can't answer those questions! So, I don't think they are supposed to give you any details.
The Perinatologist came in after my scan and looked at the report and said everything looked good. The tech couldn't get a measurement on each baby because they were both being stubborn, so I have to go back in 4 weeks for another scan. I did point blank ask the Dr. if there was anything to be concerned about, and he said no. I'm sure your Dr. will let you know if there is anything to be worried about, or the radiologist would have come in to talk to you if they found anything suspicious. I believe they are obligated by law to let you know if there is something wrong.
Make it a Double
While we obviously know what we are looking at, we're not doctors. So we cannot diagnose a patient legally.
After we take our pictures, the radiologist reviews them then sends a report over to your doctor's officet. If everything is okay you usually will not hear from them until your next appointment. If something was abnormal they will most likely call you sooner and ask you to come in.
Our tech, both times, disclosed that she cannot tell us anything and we had to wait for the dr to review the results. We are lucky that they always schedule the Dr. review right after the U/S's (NT and Anatomy) so there was no waiting and wondering for us .
Something similar happened to us. We had to wait after our appointment for her to discuss what she saw - my cervix is short. And we had to go upstairs and talk to the obgyn still on duty. My appointment was at 3 and we went up at 5. I think they would have told you if there was reason for alarm. They will call you within a week to discuss the results, like if they were able to see all of parts they needed to check.
I would recommend reaching out to your dr in a few days, once he/she receives the results from the scan.
GL
I think it really depends on your doctor. I have seen some women on here who go and have an appointment with their doctor immediately after to go after results, or sometimes the doctor will come in to review with the tech is seeing.
For me, I wasn't even allowed to see the screen during my 20wk scan. I laid there while she did it, occasionally asking me to lay on one side or the other. She asked me to get up and use the bathroom in an attempt to get baby to change position. Literally the only conversation we had was I asked if baby wasn't cooperating since she seemed to be having a difficult time and she told me that LO was staying close to my bladder. At the end, DH came in and she told us it was a girl and gave us some not so great pictures.
I didn't know the results for about a week, I had scheduled the scan a week before my 20wk appointment. I got myself all worked up because I was convinced from the pics the tech gave us that our baby had an abnormally large head. The doctor said everything looked fine, she was measuring on track, nothing to worry about.
I would try not to worry about it too much. For liability reasons Techs aren't really supposed to say anything, there is a chance they could be wrong since they aren't doctors, and they don't want you getting false information. If you are really concerned, try calling your doctor and asking if you can come in before your next appointment to go over the results.
Did you not see your dr after the u/s?
When I had mine with my daughter I saw my midwife right after. Also, I had a breast u/s because I had found a lump a couple of months ago. The u/s tech only could find an enlarged lymph node and they went immediately while I was laying there and confirmed with the Dr. I'm guessing if the tech would have saw something, she would have shown it to your dr immediately and it would have been discussed.