Calcification in heart?

Hi! I'm new here. I'm 21 weeks pregnant with mono/di twin boys . I recently had my level 2 ultrasound and they found a small calcification in Baby A's heart. They weren't able to fully see baby B's heart because he was being stubborn and wouldn't turn over.

They told me not to be too concerned about the calcification but of course I came home and googled it and found that its a marker of Down's Syndrome. My NT scan came negative and I am well under 30 so I'm considered low risk but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the calcification in the heart and what came out of it. They will continue to monitor it and I will be seeing the doctor on June 4 to discuss it further.

 

Hi and welcome to Twinstuff! :wavey: Congrats on your twins.

I am sorry they found a calcification on Baby A's heart. When my cousin was pregnant her son had 3 soft markers for Down's syndrome, one was on his heart, like your Baby A's. Her OB told her to expect that he would be born with DS and asked if she wanted to terminate the pregnancy. He is now 2 and was born perfectly healthy, he does not have Down's Syndome. So it really does not mean anything at this point with the marker. I know it's hard not to worry, but try not to. :hug99:

 

Yes, it's a soft marker for Down Syndrome but it's also very normal for "normal" babies to have it as well. U/s machines are just more advanced that it picks up everything.

Just to say I've known so many women that had been told of the calcification in the heart (echogenic focus) and everything is completely fine. Without any other markers and the fact that your first trimester screening was fine it's probably nothing and will correct itself before your babies are born.

FWIW, my NT scan came back high (3.2mm) with this pregnancy (singleton) I was told I had a 1/186 chance of having a baby with Down Syndrome. My OB sent me for a Level II u/s at 15w and at that u/s we discovered the baby had an ecogenic focus SO not only did the baby have a Hard marker (the high NT) but he also had a soft marker with the calcification. The peri was quick to point out that "normal" babies have it too. I did end up having an amnio last week and my baby has all normal 46 chromosomes BUT because a high NT can be the cause of heart defects we will have to do a fetal echo.

With all the u/s you get as a twin pregnancy I'm sure they will keep a close eye on the heart.

 

My best friend had an echogenic focus on her 16 week u/s (singleton). She did not do the bloodwork but was just followed with more ultrasounds due to her incompetent cervix and that focus eventually disappeared. Try not to worry, but I know that is hard to do. :hug99:

 

My friend had the same thing happen. Her little boy was born perfect. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

Welcome to TS!!!

I have frat boys that were born @ 36 weeks and we were told at about 20 weeks that one had a echogenic focus. It scared us to pieces even though the Dr’s told us it was a “soft marker”. I however looked it up on line, did some research and by the time the boys were born, there was NO evidence that he had any problems with his heart, nor did he have DS. We were very lucky – he was born @ 5.5lbs and his brother was 4.11lbs, both had no NICU time and were actually released the day before I was but they stayed in the hospital because of my c-section.

I think they tell us these things when they find them so that when it amounts to nothing they can just say they were wrong. Honestly, if you didn’t know about it and then found out later that they found that on the U/S and didn’t tell you, there would be legal issues to deal with I’m sure.

Good luck – don’t worry about it...do some more research and look forward to having two beautiful babies in few months!!!

Take care,
Angela