fetal pericardial effusion

[lavenderlilaclily]

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this?

I'm currently 20 weeks, my first baby. I had my anomaly scan earlier this week and was told there was a moderate to large amount of fluid around the baby's heart...saw a fetal medicine consultant same day, who confirmed there was a fairly large amount of fluid but couldn't work out the cause as everything else looks fairly normal. Was referred to a fetal cardiologist, who I saw Wednesday, who also confirmed there's a lot of fluid and the heart is slightly enlarged, but otherwise there's no obvious issues causing it. Am waiting for results of blood tests, etc, and am going to be monitored with regular ultrasounds. Next ultrasound is on Wednesday.

I've been on an emotional rollercoaster this whole time, feeling hopeless, then hopeful, anxious, confused. Mostly I'm terrified.

I just wanted to know if anyone has any experience with this?? Any hopeful stories maybe? x

Hi there, I’m going through something similar at the moment. I was told at my anomaly scan yesterday that they could see a small amount of fluid around the baby’s heart but structurally the heart was good. I’ve been booked in for an appt with the consultant next week. Do you mind sharing your outcome following on from your further tests? The sonography didn’t seem pretty concerned and told me that this is common/not to worry and it will usually rectify itself but all I can see online points to something else?

Hi @awildone, sorry I'm only replying just now - have only just seen your message.
The outcome was not good in my case unfortunately. The amount of fluid grew rapidly, we had a procedure to drain it which was successful but at that appointment they found a mass growing on our baby's heart which they realised was causing the fluid. The mass was also fast growing and devastatingly our baby died a few weeks later.

However, we were told this is VERY VERY rare. Pericardial effusions themselves are not that rare, but what we went through was extremely rare - many doctors we saw said they'd never seen it before.

You say your baby only has a small amount of fluid. I would take this as a positive - our baby had a lot of fluid at the anomaly scan, and that amount grew quickly. We were told from the get go that if it had been a small amount they would've expected it to resolve itself and not been too worried, but the large amount was more worrying (though they couldn't find the cause at first).

However make sure they scan you very regularly to monitor it, just for your own peace of mind!

I really hope it all ends up being totally fine for you. Let me know how your consultant appointment went/goes xx

Also feel free to private message me if you want, to ask any questions, or just to talk while you're waiting on any tests/scans/reassurance. I remember feeling very anxious and very lonely during all the waiting so just want to offer any help I can x but again, I hope it turns out to be nothing for you!