Two soft markers at 20 weeks - refuse further investigation?

[Cookserella]

Hi all.

My sonographer flagged two soft markers (choroid plexus cysts and dilated cisterna magna) at my 20 week scan. The blood test I had at 12 weeks showed low chance of the chromosomal conditions, but I've now been referred for a foetal MRI and then suggested I may need an amniocentesis down the line.

I wondered what people's experiences of similar situations were? We are wondering whether we might decline any further investigations at this stage - from what I read these two 'soft markers' could just resolve themselves later in the pregnancy and are not in and of themselves a problem. Everything else on the anatomy scan looked totally normal.

I am finding the investigations stressful and they won't change the outcome of the pregnancy for us as we wouldn't terminate anyway.

I'd love to hear from anyone who had the same markers flagged and what the eventual outcome for you and your baby was.

Thanks so much.

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You need to know what you’re headed for.

A woman on TikTok had a couple of soft markers at her 20 week scan. By 26 weeks she was told her baby was incompatible with life. What if that’s the case for you? You need to know.

I remember reading an article by a woman whose amino test came back clear but she miscarried as a result anyway. She wasnt anti amino but she was telling her story to highlight it does happen.

I would 💯 have the test but thats me...
You said it won't change the outcome of the pregnancy for us as we wouldn't terminate anyway

So on that basis i wouldnt test

That's nice for you and everyone is different which is completely fine. I have been in a similar-ish situation to op though and the main issue is that every test/scan/appt seems to be filled with vague and bad news. So every wait in the waiting room is filled with low level dread, but after every appointment there's no certainty or resolution. You're filled with more questions than before, rather than answers. You're given scary pamphlets with incomprehensible statistics (and yes I'm a scientist but it is hard to visualise the difference between a 1 in 20,000 chance and a 1 in 500 chance). Edit - and in my case they wouldn't even give me hard stats. It was just maybe this horrific scenario, maybe that horrific scenario, or maybe nothing..!!

It is not just "a chance to see your baby" any more in these circumstances. After many of those I'd literally just rather sit at home and draw a picture of my baby or write a poem about him than go through that ordeal yet again. (I did keep going to them because of the possibility of worst case scenario leading to TFMR.)

Yes thank you, this has been exactly my experience!

Both my sons had chloroplexoid cysts shown on the 20 weeks scan, no other markers. With my first pregnancy I spent the 2nd half of it with anxiety but I chose not to have any further tests. When it showed up on my 2nd son’s 20 weeks scan I didn’t bat an eyelid. Both boys were born with no issues.