Fetal medicine/specialist 20 wk scan Anyone?

[WillowB]

It's my 20 week scan next week & I'm having it in the fetal medicine dept of the hospital rather than the usual antenatal scan clinic. The scan will be carried out by a consultant.
Just wondered what to expect - is it more detailed than an ordinary scan? Will they check the placenta? Someone mentioned that theirs was 4D, don't know if that's the case.
Just wondered if anyone else had any experiences?

At the hospital I went to it was more detailed but not 4D. Mine was in addition to the normal 20week scan to have a better look at the heart although they checked everywhere else too.

They check the placenta and fluid + organs and growth etc in a 20 week scan anyway.

What was the reason they said yours has to be carried out by a consultant?

I'm not really sure laura I'm consultant led & had an appt at 12 wks. He wasn't particularly communicative but I did manage to establish that he thought the size of my first baby (6lb3) was a concern & I read in my antenatal notes that his placenta didn't look great either so I'm guessing they suspect he may have had IGUR.

Ah ok yeah so their just getting someone senior to scan you. I know people Who have had consultant led scans before.

In the scan they will check all baby's organs are functioning as they should be, they will take head circumference measurements as well as stomach etc. They will measure babys arms and legs and also measure the spine.

It's very interesting :)

They look at placenta and fluid too so don't think there's any difference!

Sorry just read this is your second baby so you've obviously had the scan before.

That doesn't sound any different really! I guess I presumed that they would do something different to a standard 20 wk scan.

It's very similar really, I think they use a higher resolution scanner , and mine took a long time in comparison to the usual 20 week scan. I think they are just more thorough with measurements, and are sort of looking at the detail rather than the general stuff , if you know what I mean. In mine, we also got a lot more feedback about what the consultant could see and had checked, more explanation than usual which was reassuring. Hope this helps , and that it goes well.

It's the same scan, you just have someone who really knows what they are doing scanning you. So many routine scans these days are done by more junior staff who just raise a flag if something is wrong and have to call the expert. Rest assured you are in expert hands, nothing else will be different.

I suspect they will do an in depth doppler scan which measures the blood flow to the placenta. I think most hospitals do a quick one now as routine at all scans (my hospital does).

Glad to hear that they are taking extra care of you and being cautious. Try to think that this is a positive instead of a worry x

The consultant scans Ive had this time round have taken longer - they seem to really take their time over the measurements. Also did a detailed check on heart blood flow and placenta/cord blood flow. Did have a 3D look at the face to check facial profile (sorry to be dense, but what's the 4th dimension on a scan?!). I think like all these things it depends on the consultant and what they're looking for.
Waiting time also longer sadly - high point was over 2 hours past appointment time!

I've had a couple of these. They are just very detailed scans done by someone who knows exactly what they're looking for.

I had one at kings and their equipment was obviously better but not in 4d.

I think the main difference is that it is being done by someone who is trained specifically in fetal medicine.

The sonographer that spotted a soft marker on my 20week scan couldn't tell me what it was or the implications. She said she was trained to look at patterns and patterns that don't seem right.

The next day we had a scan at kings with a fetal medicine consultant. The equipment was a higher resolution but they found 5 soft markers that the sonographer hadn't. Not because the sonographer was rubbish but that the docs were more highly trained.

Thanks for the replies.
I had my scan today. All seems fine. They were apparently checking the baby for signs of Ehlers Danlos/hypermobility syndrome which my son may have. A bit daft really as none of the medical professionals picked it up until he was 15 months old. The consultant also said it was unlikely to show on a scan But still I got to see the baby in lots of detail. The consultant flipped the scan to 3d at the end so saw the little face close up