Possible horseshoe kidney

[underthewestway]

I had my 20 week scan on Tuesday. The first sonographer said everything looked great - except that she could see a structure in the stomach and wanted me to see a consultant as she wasn’t sure what it was.

We were very lucky to see the consultant later that day. She couldn’t see any structure in the stomach so dismissed that concern, but instead said she didn’t know if the baby had 2 kidneys which were very close together or if they had fused into 1 horseshoe kidney. Apparently this can be linked to other issues, but everything else looks perfect and my NIPT and combined test results were low risk. I have to go back in 3 weeks so she can hopefully get a better look at the kidney(s).

Given that the 2 scans identified 2 different potential problems, how likely is that there’s actually nothing wrong and she just couldn’t see things properly? Should I be concerned about this? And has any one else had a baby with a horseshoe kidney but no other issues?

Hi, I don't know about the stomach, but I myself have horshoe kidney, and that never caused me any issues. It was only incidentally discovered in my mid twenties. In girls/women, it can also be associated with what is called unicorneous uterus, which I also have, and it did not cause me any trouble to have two kids. I was considered to be high risk for giving premature birth because of that, but in fact my DS1 had to be induced 2 weeks after due date. Both my boys have normally shaped 2 kidneys in usual places.
I had no problems with kidneys, apart that various sonographers cannot agree how many I have, how exactly they are fused and where. However, as long as they are functioning, that does not matter.
Therefore, if it is an isolated abnormality, or in conjunction with slightly oddly shaped uterus, it absolutely fine. Many people wouldn't even know they had one.
Hope that is what your baby has, it is reassuring that consultant did not see anything else.

Thanks so much for replying. It’s good to know in isolation it isn’t problematic. Baby is a boy, which we weren’t planning on finding out but apparently it is linked to Turner’s Syndrome in girls so consultant suggested we might want to know in case we were tempted to google and then end up worrying unnecessarily. All google has actually taught me is that Mel Gibson has one!

Fingers crossed it turns out to be a red herring anyway, but thank you for setting my mind at rest 🙂

My baby daughter who is 6 months was suspected to have a pelvic kidney at the 20 week scan however I had subsequent scans before birth and was later told she had a suspected horseshoe kidney. No other issues seen. At birth she had a renal function blood test which was normal, put on low dose antibiotics and an ultrasound with a radiologist who could not confirm that the kidneys had fused but that they were not in the correct position. She has had another scan at 6 months and this time a different radiologist now thinks she has a pancake kidney which means both the kidneys have fused completely. Because of the two different options she will now been see by Great Ormond Street.
She is a very happy thriving baby and doesn't seem to be affected by it but we are hoping to find out the exact situation with her kidneys which is proving difficult.

Hope you find out the exact situation soon with your baby and all goes well.