anatomy scan.. doctor has me freaked out!

jdonn1023 · October 2014

Last week I had my a/s. The baby wasn't behaving so she couldn't do the cardiac part of the scan. When i met with doctor after for my normal appointment he said he was going to send me for my scan-whcih i informed him i had like 5 minutes before meeting him. He told me that as of that week they were supposed to stop doing the scan in the office and they are only using this other office to do the scan which involves a high risk doctor that will look at every scan for all pregnant women. So he let me know that i could go there this week and have the rest finished-which is where i went today.

the sonographer did the whole scan- the doctor came in. He showed me a picture of the babies heart and pointed out a bright white spot and called it an echogenic focus. He very easily said it can be a marker for down syndrome, which instantly made me panic. He performed a blood test that may test for risks of chromosomal abnormalities.. but I am more curious if anyone has any experience with this? or if you were told the same thing with maybe a little more information. Im trying to stay away from google. Everything else with the baby looked perfect... just this one spot.

Dani_Love · October 2014

No advice but T&P's for you that everything is okay!

jennjilljo · October 2014

We do have another mom on here with a similar situation. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this stress and you and baby have my T&Ps.

Sahara6971 · October 2014

I had the MaterniT21 test done. Perhaps that is the one you had? Results took about a week and will rule out Downs and other Trisomies. Hopefully you will get some piece of mind with the results!

freegiraffe · October 2014

My baby also has an echogenic focus on his heart. I spoke to three doctors all of whom told me the risk of Down Syndrome was incredibly low given my sequential screening results and history, but of course I was still really worried about it so I just had my blood drawn for the Verifi test. So I'm in the same boat as you. Hoping for good results!

ETA: Really try not to Google if you can help it. Just trust your doctors when they told you not to worry.

lizzybean · October 2014

My first daughter had this and it was absolutely not something to worry about.

Did you have the NT scan at 12 weeks done? Were all of your results for that normal? If so then all should be good.

Did the doc talk about sending you to a specialist with a more high tech u/s machine? That is what they did for us and only a week later, when we saw her again at the specialist, the calcification on her heart (echogenic focus) was already diminishing.

Good luck and I hope this helps to calm you! Just ask your doc lots of questions until you feel you fully understand the situation.

jdonn1023 · October 2014

I didnt have the NT scan done. Today they did one that they said looks at fetal cells in my blood and can give a pretty accurate chance of the baby having a chromosomal abnormality. he didnt say he wanted to see me again or for me to see anyone else.

thanks for the input!

CogDis · October 2014

Nothing to add, sorry. But, good luck! I hope, like most risk factors identified by ultra sound, that it turns out to be a lot of worrying but a healthy baby! Fingers crossed!
Hugs!

dreemkin84 · October 2014

My baby has this too. I am currently waiting for my materniT21 results. My quad screen was normal. Good luck with your further testing. Also, the echogenic focus does not affect the heart function or anything like that so that's good!

nohalo21 · October 2014

No info on this. Just want to say that I'm thinking of you. The ladies here gave some good advice. Just keep yourself busy to keep your mind off of things while you are awaiting results.

triplej9 · October 2014

T&p's that your test comes back normal. I'm sorry you are having to go through this!

jadempyre1 · October 2014

Don't worry to much, an echogenic focus is like a birthmark in the heart. Unless there were multiple risks factors noted on your scan, baby should be fine.

HeyStVincent · October 2014

At work I read ultrasound reports as they come in and flag doctors on anything urgent. Echogeneity (is that word?) is probably one of the more common "abnormalities" I see. And if someone has an echogenic heart or bowel, I usually have to follow them through delivery - more often than not it winds up not being a problem and resolves. Hope this is the case for you too!

edunsmoor · October 2014

My baby boy also has an EF. All tests came back negative for chromosome abnormalities. There is a theory that the advancements in ultrasound technology means more EF's are being noticed and reported. We had another scan yesterday and the EF is already much dimmer than it was at 18 weeks. Try not to worry!

dees14 · October 2014

Mine also had a bright white spot. My OB said that by itself it didn't make her think anything was wrong, because the other organs looked ok and because my Down syndrome test was negative.

sugarry04 · October 2014

My baby has it too! My doctor freaked me out by saying there was something wrong with the heart. I saw the high risk doctor and he said it is such a soft marker for downs he doesn't even tell his patients unless there are other markers. He said everyone under 35 has a 1 in 500 chance of downs and this makes it 1 in 350. Good news baby's heart is perfect with no function deficits.

heatherdarr · October 2014

I am an ultrasound tech, and seeing an echogenic focus in the heart isnt something to be overly concerned about. This is called a "soft marker" which indicates it COULD be associated with downs syndrome, however if no other indicators are present, the likelihood is slim. I've seen a couple in my day and the babies turned out just fine.

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anatomy scan.. doctor has me freaked out!

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