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December 2015 Moms
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Anatomy scan - EIF

LMH72LMH72 member
in December 2015 Moms
I had my AS on Friday and got a call from the midwife last night. Apparently, the scan found an echogenic intracardiac focus, a bright white spot in the heart. It's considered a soft marker for chromosomal abnormalities, though there were no other markers found during the scan. My sequential screen also had me well below the anticipated risk for my age (34). I had the blood draw for Harmony today and am waiting to hear from the practice to schedule a level II US. I'm trying hard not to worry, particularly since the midwife described it as "a weak marker." Has anyone else had this finding on this or a prior pregnancy?
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Re: Anatomy scan - EIF

  • taysuntaysun member
    I'm sorry to hear that not everything went well at your scan. I don't have any experience but if you try searching I think some of women may have posted similarly. You and your LO will be in my thoughts and prayers.
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  • ChiccoBeanzChiccoBeanz member
    I don't have experience with this myself, but I wish you and your family the best on this journey. I second what @taysun said and suggest searching. If you don't find anything here, search the High Risk specialty board. Please keep us updated and we will keep you in our thoughts and prayers.
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  • BostonBaby1BostonBaby1 member
    I'm sorry to hear this. My BFF had the same thing but had already had a clean Harmony prior (AMA.) she went for her level II and everything was fine. I have no idea how often it happens or what percentage end up being nothing. I hope you can find more answers on the high risk board. T&Ps you way and please update us?
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  • Hawaiianmama17Hawaiianmama17 member
    I'm sorry as well.. I hope and pray everything is great with your lo. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your sweet baby.. Please keep us updated..
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  • Peanut1128Peanut1128 member
    Hang in there, the hardest part is waiting for answers. Sending positive thoughts and prayers your way.
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  • Mother0fDragonsMother0fDragons member
    I'm sorry to hear this, I don't have any experience to share, but you and your little one are in my prayers!
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  • Salemkitty13Salemkitty13 member
    I had my anatomy scan last week and they found an EIF. I had already had the Harmony test so the told me to try not to worry. There are some doctors that feel that EIF should be removed from the marker list because the increased sensitivity of ultrasound equipment is finding more of them. Only 20% of babies with Down Syndrome have an EIF. 5% of EIFs that are found at 20 week u/s are gone by 28 weeks. Even if it doesn't go away a person can have had it and never know. These are the things the genetic counselor told me when I talked with her. Since I had already had a level 2 u/s and the Harmony test our next step was whether or not to do an amnio and we chose not to do one. I was very worried when I found out but the more information I got the less I worried. I hope everything turns out well for you and your baby and I hope the waiting is not too bad. One more thing when I told my OB that the MFM had found the EIF his response was "meh." And a shrug.
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  • rhonashrhonash member
    EIFs are a pretty common finding on ultrasound. If it's the only marker, my office doesn't even worry about it. It's becoming more common to see because of the higher quality ultrasound machines. Try not to worry! The majority of the time, the EIF is just a prominent muscle in the heart and goes away later in the pregnancy. Feel free to message me if you have any questions!
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  • discohikerdiscohiker member
    Check out @theatrebek 's post down this thread a little. I've been in your shoes waiting for the blood test results and it sucked. Worst two weeks ever. Try hard to focus on the gift of life that is within you, and not so much on how he/she will meet society's standards of what is normal. Prayers to you.... This is such a tough thing to deal with and now that I am on thLe other side it is easy for me to say it's going to be fine, but in the moment it is so so hard.
    "There is more to us than we know. Perhaps, if we are made to see it just once, for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn, Founder of Outward Bound

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  • HeatherMesserHeatherMesser member
    Yes I had the same thing with our 2nd daughter! She came out healthy and just fine! Don't worry about it too much! I know its hard but I had the same thing happen and she was just perfect! :)
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  • satindawl83satindawl83 member
    This makes me appreciate the simpler times when there wasn't all this technology. Sometimes I think it makes us worry more than we should -- how many of us here may have had markers for xyz, but the technology wasn't there to find it?

    Sheesh...I just found out from a post last night that having 6 fingers (like I did when I was born) could have been a marker of other genetic issues! But my parents were none the wiser.

    Is short, no experience, but wishing you the best.
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  • ChiccoBeanzChiccoBeanz member
    I've looked this up to try to give you some info for this, but it seems a little dense and confusing. I teach science and it kind of gave me a headache myself.  Have you seen a genetic counselor yet?  Maybe the next time you see him/her you bring a list of questions to ask. When I met with my genetic counselor, for something different, she was really thorough, but my mom and I had a list of questions and that helped to clarify a lot of things. 
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  • AlejandraN2AlejandraN2 member
    I don't have any experience with it but from what i understand from others it's a common finding that often means nothing. I will pray that it's the same for you and that you have a healthy little one. 
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  • duckinovenduckinoven member
    No experience but wishing you and little one all the best and some peace of mind during the painful waiting period. Please keep us updated if you are able
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  • LMH72LMH72 member
    Thank you for all the responses. I really appreciate it (and I realize that other mamas are handling much more difficult news following the AS). I am really grateful for all of your kind words.
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  • groovylocksgroovylocks member
    Hey op, welcome to the club! My daughter had the same thing. Being the oh-so-charming combination of curious and paranoid that I am, I began to read medical white papers I found online. Here are my findings which my medical team confirmed yesterday that i had interpreted correctly. 

    Out of a typical cross set of non-asian babies, there is a 3-5% chance (based on findings) of finding an EIF on the little heart. 
    Out of a typical cross set of asian babies (with one or two asian parents), there is a 10-35% chance (based on findings) of finding an EIF on the little heart. 
    Out of 25 babies with Down's Syndrome, 5 were found to also have had an EIF. In other words, 20%.

    It is a soft sign in that it's not so much that kids with EIF might have chromosomal abnormalities like Trisomy 21. The finding is actually that children with Trisomy 21 were found to be more likely to have EIF. And those ARE different, in my thinking. My doctor confirmed this. 

    Usually if EIF is found, they immediately scan for other signs of a chromosomal abnormality (for example, limb size and proportion apparently is one, maternal age is also taken into account) If no other soft signs are found, it is considered a normal anomaly and will almost always produce a healthy baby with a typical chromosome set. 

    My doctor told me that they tell us this is found due to liability - they have to inform the parents of all possible scenarios for legal reasons. Which is why they bring it up. My doctor said that while I can request another anatomy scan, she doesn't feel it's necessary at this stage since our daughter's entire scan was *perfect* other than the EIF. Especially since her father is Asian and I am part Native, her likelihood of having EIF without further complication goes up significantly. She said she recommends against any discussion of amniocentesis. 

    Finally, she said "In my entire career, I have seen many, many babies with EIF on their scans. Many with other secondary soft signs. 0% of those babies I have seen were born with chromosomal abnormalities like Down's or Trisomy 13 or anything like that."

    So.. If that helps you feel better at all. 
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  • VixDecember2015VixDecember2015 member

    At our scan last month, our son had an EIF.  The MFM doctor who read the scan explained that if there were no other markers, the likelihood of a problem was very slim.  And that she sees several EIF's per week from babies that turn out to be perfectly healthy.  The MFM doctors at our hospital won't even refer people for additional testing when they find an EIF with no additional markers.  We chose to go ahead with the cell free blood test to check for some of the possible problems.  Our test came back negative for any issues.

    Hang in there.  Wait for the results and hope for the best.  There is no reason to worry yet (I know, hearing that never makes it better even if your brain acknowledges the truth of it).  If it makes you feel any better, our results came back 2 days earlier than they were expecting--so here's hoping you get an early response too.

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