Cardiac scan

[Lovetobrowse]

Just wanting to pick someone's brain if anyone knows about the need for a special cardiac scan. I've had my 12 week scan at FMC and my sonographer recommended a cardiac scan at 20 weeks because the nt measurement was 2.6 mm. This is despite my combined risk for the trisomies being very small, and I also had the Harmony test which apparently reduces this further. I have booked in for the extra scan but am now wondering if this is over the top cautiousness as NHS doctors seem to consider 3.5mm to be the cut off for further investigation. I don't really want to pay £250 and have an extra scan for the sake of it, and it's booked the same day as my 20 week scan. Any thoughts appreciated, thanks!

Hello I have been to the FMC with two pregnancies now, one which had a very sad outcome and one which is progressing normally. As they are experts in fetal medicine, if they recommended a cardiac scan I would have one. I appreciate that it's £250 and hopefully your baby's heart will be absolutely fine. For me, it would be worth having the scan for reassurance. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Since when does the NHS charge for something the doctor thinks is in order? Private medicine is about making profits so I wouldn't go there...

As far as I know, the FMC isn't profit making, so I don't think that's a consideration here. The doctor we saw discouraged me from having additional scans that she didn't think were necessrary.

It's a tricky one. I would trust FMC recommendation, as they are experts. Most NHS doctors follow existing guidelines, but people at FMC are at forefront of research, and may recommend extra things. That said, it is most likely to be fine, so you might feel in the end that it was not needed...

Hi Lovetobrowse

I had a cardiac scan with FMC and sadly my outcome was not good, severe heart defect which led to termination. They advised the cardiac scam as NT was 3.1, but all the other factors including bloods were favourable. Having said that I think yours is just a precaution as I assume they would have picked up abnormality during the routine scan as theirs is more thorough than the nhs and their equipment more advanced. I don't think their advice would be money driven as FMC is a not for profit teaching foundation.

Thank you all for your replies. I think I've probably reached the same conclusion that it's best to follow advice, even if it turns out to be unnecessary. I didn't think about FMC being not for profit, TimeforaDietCoke but I totally agree. I suspect I'll probably worry otherwise and it's probably a small cost for piece of mind. Thanks again.

Just read your response Coolchic and I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing, you've just made my mind up completely.

It was a very tough time, but thank god it was discovered sooner, I'm grateful for FMC because should we have relied on NHS low risk results ( because all factors considered were normal and their result was based on that, so I don't fault NHS at all) we would have only found out far too long and decision might have been harder. Test after termination came back clear for chromosome abnormalities so the heart defect was just bad luck as they said.

We are now happily expecting again, 9 weeks and I'm dreading the 12 weeks scan and screening test, but we are just hopeful we can't be unlucky this time.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too. FMC are amazing, We used them for an extra scan in a previous pregnancy and just had the Harmony package this time round which I would definitely recommend. Good luck!