Dextrocardia - 20 wk scan

[eden01]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this...

Baby diagnosed at 20wk scan with Dextrocardia (heart on right side of chest instead of left). No other issues were picked up. The plan is to have a detailed heart scan and an amnio potentially to rule out any rare chromosome issues. Panorama came back at 11 weeks as low risk.

If anyone has had a similar diagnosis and can share their story - positive or negative - I would be really grateful. Feeling nervous about potentially other issues with the baby's heart however the heart currently has 4 chambers as normal and connections look good so far.

Just not sure how something like this can be discovered without there being other problems and scaring myself with Google...

Thanks

I don't have any experience of this I'm afraid but I just wanted to point you in the direction of ARC. They will be able to talk to you about he diagnosis and possibly put you in touch with parents who have been through the diagnosis themselves.

www.arc-uk.org

No experience of Dextrocardia but if no other soft markers were seen at the 20 week scan I would think that a good sign. Our baby has a heart condition (TGA) where the arteries are joined the wrong way round it was described to us as one of the heart defects that is unlikely to be linked to other conditions but a stand alone problem. We had a detailed heart scan at 14 weeks after high NT at dating scan. Then again at 20. Once we had been seen by the fetal cardiac unit for the scan everything was explained much better than at the regular scans. I hope that once you get to see a specialist they will put your mind at ease.

I have experience of dextrocardia, but with 3 other major heart defects.

It is good that all 4 chambers are present, which way is the apex of the heart facing? Hopefully a more detailed scan will give you a clearer diagnosis.

I read a story once about a man who had dextrocardia (as a stand alone condition) and had to have an annual ECG, one year a nurse was chatting to him, while applying the sticky pads to the left side of his chest she said to him "I see you have dextrocardia, how long have you had that then" he had to tell her what dextrocardia was and that she would only get a flat line if she persisted with an ECG on the left side of his chest.

Sadly for us our diagnosis was not compatible with quality of life.