"soft sign" on ultrasound

Hi all,

Last week was my ultrasound, and today I had a follow-up with my
doctor. He started saying that the baby's anatomy looked completely
normal but he was obligated to tell me that she had a "echogenic
cardiac focus", or a "bright spot" on the ultrasound in the heart,
usually indicating calcium. He went on to say that in the presence of
other Down Syndrome "soft signs" it's something to discuss, but given
my age (31), the fact that everything else looked normal (no other
signs), and my AFP screen was negative and very good, that I should
ignore it. He said that he's never heard of a baby delivered with
Down's whose ultrasound showed only a single soft sign.

(they call them soft signs when they can also be present in healthy
children - from what I hear this can occur in 5-10% of normal
pregnancies).

Problem is, I can't stop thinking about it. He said that an amnio
would not be recommended because it doesn't really raise my risk level
for Down's with just that single sign.

But I still worry! It's my own belief I wouldn't do anyting about it
at this late stage anyhow, but I worry that four months of stressing
over it will not be good for me or the baby.

Has anyone else had this issue? How did they deal with the stress or
worry, and did they choose amnio? Interested in other's thoughts.


Donna

DL wrote:

But I still worry! It's my own belief I wouldn't do anyting about it
at this late stage anyhow, but I worry that four months of stressing
over it will not be good for me or the baby.

Has anyone else had this issue? How did they deal with the stress or
worry, and did they choose amnio? Interested in other's thoughts.

It is still very early in this process. It seems to me
very likely that you will not feel this intensity of worry for
four more months. I also believe that you *can* control this
to some extent. You know intellectually that this is not a
rational worry. You can keep telling yourself that and telling
yourself to let go of irrational fears, and/or go through whatever
other de-stressing processes work for you. Do you obsess every
day when you get in a car to go somewhere that you will be hit?

Best wishes,
Ericka

"DL" wrote in message
om...
Hi all,

Last week was my ultrasound, and today I had a follow-up with my
doctor. He started saying that the baby's anatomy looked completely
normal but he was obligated to tell me that she had a "echogenic
cardiac focus", or a "bright spot" on the ultrasound in the heart,
usually indicating calcium. He went on to say that in the presence of
other Down Syndrome "soft signs" it's something to discuss, but given
my age (31), the fact that everything else looked normal (no other
signs), and my AFP screen was negative and very good, that I should
ignore it. He said that he's never heard of a baby delivered with
Down's whose ultrasound showed only a single soft sign.
.

Has anyone else had this issue? How did they deal with the stress or
worry, and did they choose amnio? Interested in other's thoughts.


Donna

My middle baby had this, it caused a great deal of stress, but in the end
she was just fine!! She's almost 3 now.

I didn't do the amnio as the quad screen showed the risk of DS to be less
than the risks of the amnio.

Jess
Mum of three:
DS - 7
DD - 2
DD - Almost 4 months

Has anyone else had this issue? How did they deal with the stress or
worry, and did they choose amnio? Interested in other's thoughts.


Donna

A friend of mine had a similar situation. I don't recall which sign
her baby had on u/s, but it was a soft indicator of Down's Syndrome.
This was discovered about halfway through the pg.. She, like you,
would not have terminated regardless, so she declined the amnio.. At
our hospital, there are always perinatologists, etc.. in L&D, so
whoever was there that day was called in as she delivered, and checked
her baby closely -- and would've done whatever/called whoever they
needed additionally if it was needed. But, it wasn't. Her daughter
did not/does not have Down's syndrome.

My friend was happy that her baby didn't have any medical issues, and
also happy that had she been born with a problem, she'd had a few
months to get used to the idea just in case.

I understand your dilemma, and I wish you the best. The only reason I
think this would continue to cause stress is if there aren't
specialists available round the clock at your hospital, or your birth
attendant isn't able to contact someone quickly. Otherwise, I think
the worry will wane, because there's not much else you can do, and
relaxing will help you and the baby.

Tina.

My middle baby had this, it caused a great deal of stress, but in the end
she was just fine!! She's almost 3 now.

I didn't do the amnio as the quad screen showed the risk of DS to be less
than the risks of the amnio.

Jess
Mum of three:
DS - 7
DD - 2
DD - Almost 4 months

Thanks Jess and Ericka! I already feel better today. I think
yesterday I was overreacting because I already had news that week of
both my sister *and* father going in for breast/skin cancer biopsies.
I was already weepy-prone and I think it was just too much to add a
third element of stress. =)

I guess you just always expect to hear nothing. I actually was lucky
enough to talk to some radiologists offline and they said off the
record it's too bad that the doctor even told me... that it causes
more concern than warranted, but they are covering themselves in case
we would have wanted to "act" on the information.

I'll just keep telling myself that that "bright spot" on her heart
just means that she's extra-kind-hearted!

Donna

"DL" wrote in message
om...


I'll just keep telling myself that that "bright spot" on her heart
just means that she's extra-kind-hearted!

Donna

None of the dozens of Claudia's ultrasounds showed the soft marker although
she did have heart defects *and* Down syndrome. (Had to have lots of u/s's
because I was having twins) She's definitely extra-kind-hearted even if the
bright spot didn't show up on the ultrasound!

Leigh in raLeigh
Mom to Claudia (5), Edward (5) and Aaron (9)
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~lmenconi/

On 13 Oct 2004 16:30:25 -0700, (DL) wrote:

Hi all,

Last week was my ultrasound, and today I had a follow-up with my
doctor. He started saying that the baby's anatomy looked completely
normal but he was obligated to tell me that she had a "echogenic
cardiac focus", or a "bright spot" on the ultrasound in the heart,
usually indicating calcium. He went on to say that in the presence of
other Down Syndrome "soft signs" it's something to discuss, but given
my age (31), the fact that everything else looked normal (no other
signs), and my AFP screen was negative and very good, that I should
ignore it. He said that he's never heard of a baby delivered with
Down's whose ultrasound showed only a single soft sign.

(they call them soft signs when they can also be present in healthy
children - from what I hear this can occur in 5-10% of normal
pregnancies).

Problem is, I can't stop thinking about it. He said that an amnio
would not be recommended because it doesn't really raise my risk level
for Down's with just that single sign.

But I still worry! It's my own belief I wouldn't do anyting about it
at this late stage anyhow, but I worry that four months of stressing
over it will not be good for me or the baby.

Has anyone else had this issue? How did they deal with the stress or
worry, and did they choose amnio? Interested in other's thoughts.


Donna

Hi Donna,

I had a similar situation when I was pregnant with my DS. On my
routine 18 week ultrasound, they discovered that one of his kidneys
was enlarged, which is considered a soft marker for Down's.
Everything else appeared normal. My midwife recommended I go for the
AFP, which I had previously declined. That came back fine, which was
a big relief. Like you, I wouldn't have terminated the pregnancy
anyway.

I ended up having a couple more ultrasounds later in pregnancy to make
sure he was still okay, and a doctor checked him out after he was
born. It turned out that he has a kidney defect (duplex kidney) that
needs to be monitored but otherwise he's perfectly healthy. In the
long run, it was a good thing they diagnosed it before being born so
that they could keep an eye on his kidney right away. If it hadn't
been diagnosed, he could have ended up with a serious infection.

Having said that, part of me wishes that they hadn't ever seen the
kidney problem ahead of time. I found it difficult at times to enjoy
the pregnancy after that because I kept worrying about him even though
the AFP was fine and there were no other indications of Down's. I
didn't stress out enough about it to think that I might affect the
pregnancy itself but it did put a damper on it a bit. It's terrible
to say but I felt like I couldn't get as excited about it anymore.
It's not like I would've loved DS any less if he'd had Down's or any
other major problem but it was just always there at the back (or
front) of my mind. I even ended up deciding to find out the sex of
the baby toward the end of the pregnancy at one of my ultrasounds
because I wanted to feel closer to him and start to picture him as a
real baby.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I've been there, too, and I
understand how you must be feeling.

Katie