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Thickening of heart wall?

Vik9Vik9 member
in High-Risk Pregnancy
My husband and I went to our anatomy screen at 20 weeks to discover an echogenic focus on the babies heart. We were referred to a different doctor for a second opinion who checked the heart and although he said everything is there and heart is functioning normally there is a thickening of the left side and he referred us to one of the nations best fetal/pediatric cardiologists. We rushed over to the cardiologist who examined us for over an hour. He told us exactly what the other doctor said, he said he was not sure what caused this thickening but the heart is functioning fine its just important to monitor it. I did end up having an amnio to rule out any chromosomal/gentic abnormalities and to check for viruses that could have possibly caused this thickening and everything has come back negative. The doctors are confused and will be monitoring this hoping it either gets better or he grows into it. We are very worried as the genetic counselor who did talk to us about the amnio mentioned termination. Has anyone had a similar heart problem? I have literally researched everything and cant find one thing!
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Re: Thickening of heart wall?

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    PlainJane8350PlainJane8350 member
    No, but I went through something similar with my baby's brain. I'm not sure why they mentioned termination if everything is there and functioning, I'm sorry they said that. We were refered to the children's hospital for a fetal M.R.I. Just like you, everything was "normal," her ventricle(s) was/were just on the high end of normal. We've had a couple of follow-ups since and they seem to have stabilized, not increasing further. It's scary, but, like us, I think you received the best news possible under the circumstances. If there was anything terminal or severe, then that cardiologist would have found it. I'm sure it will resolve on its own in utero, but it's good that they're monitoring it. Thinking of you, good luck!
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    AshleyKimelAshleyKimel member
    Last week we found out at 20 weeks that our baby has pulmonary valve stinois. We meet with a pediatric cardiologist who said this can be fixed with a ballon and they will now monitor the baby every 4 weeks. We got the amino to see if anything is causing it but are still waiting for the results. How long did it take to get your amino results back?
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    Mousie93Mousie93 member
    edited June 2015
    My dad had a genetic heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (often known as HCM or HOCM). This causes a thickening of one or more walls of the heart and symptoms can be present immediately in the fetus, from birth, or can emerge later in life. It has a 50% chance of passing to a child, and I'm 22 now and have not yet shown to have the disease. Sometimes HCM can spontaneously emerge in families, but this is very rare. This is what happened to my dad, as neither his mother nor his father or any other relative have the disease. Nowadays HCM is very manageable and people with it often have completely normal life expectancies. It can be managed with drugs like beta-blockers.
    Just thought it might be something you may want to look up. You and your partner can be tested for HCM with an ultrasound on the heart. Good luck. The fact that your baby's heart appears to be functioning normally despite the thickening is an excellent sign.
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