Echogenic bowel?

[WBWIFE]

Has anyone any.experience with an echogenic bowel at 20 week anomoly scan please?

We went to ours yeaterdsy and was told the above and they rang within the hour to organise an appointment this wednesday with a fetal medicine doctor to scan me and discuss.

I know I should probably just wait until tomorrow but would like to know others experiences please

Hello yes I have and I hope you and your partner are ok. It was an incredibly stressful time.

Did the sonographer mention or show you how bright the bowel was against the hip or femur bone?

When I went to fetal medicine the consultant told me he had looked at the stills taken from the scan and he thought everything looked ok. The bowel was bright but not as bright as bone. This, in his opinion, was good and the likely issue was caused by the baby swallowing blood early on (I had three early bleeds). He then offered me a torch screening for toxins and infection, which came back negative and both DP and I were screened for cystic fibrosis, which again we are negative for.

My last scan I had (32 weeks), the baby has grown well and fetal medicine were pleased. I have tried not to think about this too much and the baby appears to be healthy in all other aspects. It still concerns me but I'm thinking positively and if there is an issue then I'll deal with it if the time comes.

I hope I haven't scared you but I know I was beside myself when I found out. I couldn't think of anything else but that.

@lighteningridge the sonographer did say it was as white as the bone.. whereas it should be greyer like the rest of the organs.

I haven't had a bleed that I know of but I guWas that could have happened inside without me knowing?

Thanks for your response. I feel a little less alone now. I'm glad all looks well for you

@WBWIFE I don't know if an early bleed can stay in utero but it may be possible. They could never see where mine came from. The blood I had was small quantities but lasted a few days each.

As for how bright it is, the sonographor can point this out (and told me it was bright like bone) but cannot really give a diagnosis. When the consultant scans they know exactly what they are looking for and he did say he understood the sonographor's concern but he thought it looked ok. He offered the blood screenings because I wanted them done to rule those out.

Echogenic bowel is only a soft marker for potential abnormalities. I don't know if you have googled (I did, wouldn't recommend) but the research out there suggests in isolation there is less likely to be an issue. I really hope everything goes well for you tomorrow. The fetal medicine team at my NHS trust are fantastic and so incredibly reassuring and I hope you have the same experience.

@lighteningridge thank you. Yes I've googled and know I shouldn't have but just wanted to be prepared I suppose.

They did assure us not to worry until we saw the consultant etc. I think if they offered the tests I would have them too just to rule out and put my mind at ease.

These babies such a worry!

@WBWIFE I was the same. I needed to know what we were facing. I had to wait 5 days to be seen and it was hell so I know just how long these days feel. I would like to say the worry lessens as the weeks go on but it really doesn't. It just changes to a new worry about something else!

The only thing I will say about the tests is that they ring you if there is an issue but otherwise you have to chase your results. I got my negative torch screen at my next midwife appointment (24/25 weeks) and my CF test results at my 32 week scan. They do say if anything is wrong they'll call but if you want keep asking for your results. I got mine printed as I wanted them in black and white for my notes.

Just to say, I had the same at my 20w scan and remember what a worrying time it was. They thought it may have been from swallowing blood early on, but I had no bleed that I was aware of.
That baby will turn 10yo next month, he is perfectly fit and healthy.
I do hope it works out for you.

@WBWIFE

We had this flagged up at our anomaly scan with DC2.

We had to wait a few days to be re-scanned at the Fetal Medicine Unit.

Our appointment with FMU involved very in-depth scan (there were 6 people present) plus blood tests for both me and DP.

As I understand echogenic bowel can be a marker for certain things which need to be ruled out. Cystic Fibrosis and Toxoplasmosis will be checked for via blood tests and the scan will look for any old bleeds.

Our blood tests were clear, I was scanned every few weeks at FMU and baby arrived at 40+1, was absolutely fine and the echogenic bowel was never really mentioned again?

(baby is almost 5 now!)

Easier said than done but try not to worry!