Dilated renal pelvis at 20 week scan

[Lou5290]

Hello, I’m posting as I wondered if anyone else had a similar thing and what the outcome was? A dilated renal pelvis was picked up on my 20 week scan for our baby boy last week. At 8.1mm I understand it’s considered mild/ moderate as it should be max 7mm at this point in pregnancy. The other kidney appears unaffected, the actual kidney structure appeared normal as did the bladder, amniotic fluid and abdominal circumference. We have a fetal medicine scan next week which I’m sure will give us more info.

Does anyone have any words of encouragement or positive outcomes they’d be willing to share? I’m suddenly feeling really worried about it all, despite there being loads of reassuring info online.

For background, we also had a complicated pregnancy with my daughter who’s nearly 4 now, including a unilateral kidney, so this has brought up such buried away trauma.. we were so hoping for a straight forward pregnancy this time, but maybe it’s just not meant to be! She’s been fine since birth but I do remember her urologist saying that a total absence of kidney is generally easier to manage than complex anatomy, so we’re not quite sure what to make it all right now! Thanks for reading ☺️

Hi, my latest pregnancy also picked up a abnormality at 20 weeks - not the same as yours ours was something to do with the bowel but had lots of causes ranging from Down syndrome to scary sounding infections. Went to fetal medicine and they had no concerns at all… I’m sure this will be the case for you too. All I can say is stay off Google as I drove my self mad. Oh and my baby boy is a picture of health at 6 months. Good luck xx

@ohpoowhatnow thanks for your reply, that’s amazing your little one is doing well. The internet is such a scary place, I’m split between wanting to bury my head in the sand and wanting to prepare myself for the worst case scenario. It’s awful 😣

Hiya, this was found at a routine growth scan at 37w in my first pregnancy; it started as one kidney and was both at 39w. I was beside myself with worry. Baby was born healthy at 41+3, had tests and they never found a cause. One kidney is normal now and the other is still dilated but if it wasn’t for those growth scans we wild never have known. He is nearly 8 and has never had a UTI or anything. They are seeing him annually just to keep an eye on it.

https://kcuk.cdn.ngo/media/documents/infoKID_Antenatal_hydronephrosis_all.pdf

This is useful OP - my nephew had this. He is now 21 and perfectly healthy! Its actually fairly common and most often not serious.

Yes! When I was 20 weeks pregnant, DDs kidney was measuring 9mm when it should have been 7mm.

I had additional scans through pregnancy and when she was born she was out on antibiotics straight away.

She had PUJ (I think it's called that) surgery at 6 months old and a follow up 6 weeks later.

She has had yearly scans since.

She is now 6 and fighting fit. Due to go back in august for more scan results.

I had the same thing with my DS1, apparently quite common in boys. I was worried sick, had a scan at 32 wks, was told at the 20wks scan it would probably correct itself by then, thankfully it did. My DS1 is 24 now, never had any renal issues ever. Try not to worry OP.

Hi OP. From what I can tell after a quick Google, this means part of a kidney is dilated, right? And your other DC has one kidney?

Had to write to let you know DC was diagnosed with hydronephrosis at my 20 week scan. This means the whole kidney was dilated (it was so much bigger than the normal kidney even then and continued growing). We were devastated and feared the unknown. We were under fetal medicine and now paediatric urology who were very reassuring and we felt like we were in the best hands.

Anyway, I had my absolutely beautiful DD at the start of the year and you’d never think she had this condition. She’s on antibiotics to prevent UTIs (hasn’t had one yet 🙏) and had/has scans every so often to investigate what exactly is causing it and check how things are. In her case, she has a cyst which will be burst through a procedure eventually.

I mainly wanted to say please have faith and please try your best to enjoy your pregnancy. I regret not enjoying mine more as I was so stressed about this. Keep us posted! 💐❤️

Should add it often resolves when not severe, in utero or in the first few months or so. Treatment is ongoing for DD as hers is severe.

My child has VUR. We had dilated renal pelvis picked up on the ultrasound, hydronephrosis coming and going but ultimately they are happy and healthy. They are grade 4 out of 5 but have only had 3 UTI’s ever so no need to do anything. We did prophylactic antibiotics for the first 3 years but have been off them for a good while now with no issues.

Sorry for yet another message: I was told it’s the most common birth defect and when I was overthinking wondering what I could have done or not done to prevent or cause it, I was talked down and told it’s totally random. I was also told it can run through siblings. So please don’t overthink either.

Just to add we had check ups every 6 months when they were small but have yearly check ups at the children’s hospital now they are older. We did fetal medicine etc when pregnant but the fetal medicine guy said most of the time, it has resolved by the time children are checked at birth.

I had this at 20 weeks with my first, also told quite common in boys. They rescanned me at 32 weeks and measurement was normal by then.

My 2 sons had this. Were followed by Great Ormond Street for a couple of years (they said purely for their research purposes) and they were both on preventative antibiotics for awhile. They are now 23 and 21! Never had any issues whatsoever with their kidneys. Try not to worry!

Thank you so much @everyone for all your replies, you’ve really helped me calm down a bit about it all. Fetal medicine scan tomorrow, hoping and praying for no more complications 😥

My son had dilated renal pelvis picked up at the 20 week scan and also at subsequent scans ( 28 weeks, 32 weeks and 36 weeks). He had some tests during his first year to check the kidney was working correctly, which it appeared to be. He is now a strapping 19 year old and has never had any issues as a result of this.
Please try not to worry too much (easier said than done, I know) as I now understand it is fairly common and usually not serious. And you are being monitored which is good. Wishing you all the best. X

Good luck tomorrow @Lou5290

I would say the 20 week scan is so thorough, it’s highly likely any other major complications or markers would have already been identified. Think about it like this - they’ve already identified this issue with the kidney when they are so tiny at this gestation. They will look at everything again (in my experience) really, really closely and it’ll be quite long probably so just giving you a heads up - don’t be paranoid if it feels long. I dreaded each scan after my twenty week one but the thoroughness meant I left them feeling calmer and reassured that they’d have detected anything abnormal if it was there.

Thinking about you OP. Good luck.

I thought I’d come back to give an update in case anyone finds this thread in the future. I had the fetal medicine scan at my local hospital last week and it was horrible. The doctor and midwife’s bedside manner filled me with so much dread. They decided to refer me to a London hospital to be on the safe side due to my daughter’s kidney background, even though the measurement had already reduced from the week before. I’m grateful they were being diligent but the manner in which they communicated it made me so nervous as they mentioned possible genetic problems, triostomies, infections etc. The London appointment has been delayed due to doctors strikes, so we have it this Thursday.

In the meantime, I couldn’t wait any longer so booked a private scan in London today and the dilated renal pelvis has corrected itself and is within normal parameters for gestational age. I couldn’t be more relieved and the consultant was so reassuring. She actually said if she had a baby with an anomaly on a scan, she’d want it to be a dilated renal pelvis.

Baby’s centile measurements are a bit all over the place (bigger head, smaller legs, average abdomen) but she wasn’t concerned in the slightest as she said anatomically everything looks totally normal.

Who knows what the next 18 weeks of pregnancy will bring but I feel we’re in a much better position now compared to a few weeks ago. Thanks so much to everyone who’s replied to this thread :)

@Lou5290 that's great news, so pleased to read the update, what a relief. Try to relax and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. Wishing you all the best.