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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

bright/white spot in chest at 20 week scan

27 replies

tadpole · 20/09/2005 19:12

has anyone else had this? just had my 20 week scan and everything was fine with the baby except for this white/bright spot in the chest on the right. the man doing the scan said it was probably nothing but he had no idea what it was and is sending me to a bigger hospital with a fetal medicine centre for another scan on thursday. his colleague didnt know either and no one offered any sort of suggestion. does anyone know what it might be?

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GeraldGiraffe · 20/09/2005 19:25

Could it just be a cyst?

tadpole · 20/09/2005 19:26

he just said that he had no idea what it was which wasnt very reassuring

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GeraldGiraffe · 20/09/2005 19:29

don't forget that radiographers aren't mediacally trained though, so it could be something totally benign which he hjust hasn't seen before. Please try not to worry until you see what they say at the next scan. its only two days away (easy to say i know)

It could be nothing- better a false positive than a missed one

tadpole · 20/09/2005 19:39

i find it odd that he hadnt seen anything like it before which makes me worry more though. thanks for answering

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GeraldGiraffe · 20/09/2005 19:56

bump for anyone who might know more about this.

Rachey1969 · 20/09/2005 20:30

Please don't worry, it could be nothing. I believe that on a scan white = solid eg bone, black = fluid, grey=soft tissue. Hopefully your more detailed scan and a consultant opinion will reassure you.

cjmummy · 20/09/2005 20:59

Hi tadpole, I had something very similar to this with my ds (and he is completely fine!!!) so I know how worrying it can be. They found 2 no. white patches when I had my 20 week scan ... one in his heart and one in his brain so I went for a detailed scan (I think they said one was liquid - prob the brain, and one looked like a cyst). They explained that quite often these disappear altogether by the time that the child is born and are probably not worth worrying about, however, I was offered an amnio as being the only way to make sure everything was fine. I decided against it though, having worked out that the risk of miscarriage from an amnio (although very slim) was greater than the risk of there being a problem with my ds. I asked the consultant to work out the approximate odds based upon my original triple blood tests - and to be honest I came to the decision that whatever was meant to be was meant to be... so I didnt really want to consider the amnio. Apparently, there are certain things which they call soft markers (like water on the brain, size of the head, nasal cavity etc).... the more soft markers you get the higher the risks of problems etc ... but there are LOADS of soft markers ... even my two issues were not seen as anything to worry about ... so your one certainly shouldnt be!! The best thing you can do is relax. A lovely nurse at the hospital told me that nowadays there are times when we have access to too much detail and technology so we end up worrying about these little blips which turn out to be nothing. My advice would be to try and keep busy until thursday .... they even told me the sex of my baby at the detailed scan and my own hospital weren't willing, so some good came of it all! Good luck, and let me know how it goes. I hope this has been of some use.

tadpole · 21/09/2005 08:21

thanks

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tadpole · 21/09/2005 10:33

anyone else?

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eidsvold · 21/09/2005 11:26

there was a thread recently about echogenic focii/focus - which I had with dd2 - spot of calcification in the heart. It can show up as a white spot. It is a very soft marker for Down syndrome and if found in isolation more often than not does not result in a baby being born with down syndrome. I was told that due to the advances in technology and hi tech equipment these spots are being found more often - and usually amount to nothing

if you do a seach for echogenic focii/focus you will find more about it.

eidsvold · 21/09/2005 11:26

that spot may be that

tadpole · 21/09/2005 13:52

thanks eidsvold. this isnt in the heart which is reassuring i think. i am trying not to google stuff because i think you always find things youd rather not.

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PrettyCandles · 21/09/2005 14:14

My ds had an echogenic bowel at his 20w scan, again the radiologist didn't know what it meant so she refered me to a specialist unit for a more detailed scan.

As I learnt at the special scan, and as others on this thread have said, echogenic spots can be soft markers for many conditions. I also had a set of blood tests to see whether I might have had any illnesses during the pregnancy that might have caused the spot (rubella and toxoplasmosis are the only ones that I recall), which all came back clear - they just confirmed that I was immune to most of the potentially dangerous illnesses!

The specialist scan was amazing - even more so than the 'ordinary' scans had been. We saw so many amazing and wonderful things - except the sex of my baby, as they had asked whether I wanted to know and I had said 'No'. The consultant decided that, as there were no other soft markers, no problems highlighted by my blood-tests, and a very good statistical result from my 16w blood test (Triple?), that the echogenicity was probably caused by the foetus swallowing blood in the amniotic fluid, that had come from a small bleed in the placenta. I had never been aware of anything happening, but something must have done becuase the scan showed some scarring on the placenta. He decided that I should have scans every 3-4wks, and by about 35wks the echogenicity had faded completely and everything was normal.

Ds was born at term, healthy and with no problems. I hope this reassures you. I too was told that the technology was getting so advanced that in a sense there was now too much information, and people couldn't yet analyse it all, so were extra-cautious. My MIL had a friend whose dd went through exactly the same as I did, with the same results.

Good luck!

tadpole · 22/09/2005 11:25

thanks everyone. just got back from the scan and they think its swallowed blood from an early bleed. the spot was in the liver or the bit of gut that crosses it and there were spots in the stomach and outside in the amniotic fluid so they think the baby swallowed some and this is showing up as the bright bits.

everything else is perfect with the baby and they spent a long time looking at the heart which was amazing as we could see the valves opening and shutting. they also got a consultant in who spent a similar amount of time looking at everythign in great detail and told me they didnt need to see me again.

thanks again

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bundle · 22/09/2005 11:28

tadpole that's great news...sit back & enjoy the rest of your pregnancy

cod · 22/09/2005 12:46

Message withdrawn

PrettyCandles · 22/09/2005 14:25

Oh good! The best possible news.

I always feel that, although we had a scare, I was superbly priviledged to get to peep through the 'window' and see ds in so much detail before he was born. Isn't that scan amazing!?

GeraldGiraffe · 22/09/2005 14:36

fantastic- glad everything has turned out to be ok.

Windermere · 22/09/2005 14:40

Great news

eidsvold · 23/09/2005 06:46

that is great news

SoupDragon · 05/03/2006 11:42

Just to 1) prove that "newbies" aren't ignored and 2) say that the "tadpole" was born fit and healthy Wink

misdee · 05/03/2006 11:46
Smile
QE2 · 05/03/2006 11:47

nice one soupy Grin

jessicaandrebeccasmummy · 05/03/2006 11:47

You cheeky little soupdragon you!

eidsvold · 05/03/2006 23:20

you monkey Grin glad all was well.