Echogenic Foci in the Heart

I had the same thing happen when I was pregnant with my son. It turned to be nothing. Whenever you get worried/concerned, just throw a prayer up for the Lord's help. All prayers are heard.

The echogenic focus is a bright spot on the heart caused by excess calcium deposits. It isn't something wrong with the heart, but just a spot there that is unexpected. Usually they are completely harmless and will resolve on their own. The are also what's called a "soft marker" for Down Syndrome. That means that an echogenic focus together with other signs can indicate the presence of Down Syndrome. Generally one soft marker by itself is not indicative of a problem. Like I said before it isn't a functional issue with the heart just a spot that has shown up in the heart.

To try to make a lame analogy- this is the equivalent of your car making one funny noise one time. It always makes you nervous, it can sometimes mean there is something wrong, but usually it is totally harmless and nothing to be concerned about.

I work in the field and also my third child had a cardiac echogenic focus (left ventricle also, the most common spot). I was planning a homebirth and it made me nervous. We had a follow up fetal echocardiogram with a maternal fetal medicine doc who said no way would he change homebirth plans for this- we had a lovely homebirth and a healthy baby.

As an interesting side not, diagnosis of an echogenic focus (they also happen in the bowel and other places) is becoming more common as ultrasound equipment improves. In the past they simply weren't diagnosed because they weren't seen. So although they don't cause a problem and they don't generally mean anything thanks to technology we have the ability to worry about one more thing now:)

Here is a little more info:
http://www.umm.edu/pediatrics/echo_cardiac.htm
http://www.mombaby.org/UserFiles/File/EIF.final.pdf

I was also told at the 20 week ultrasound for my now 5 1/2 year old son that he had an echogenic focus. We had the level 2 and they discovered that he also had enlarged kidneys and one other thing that I can't remember now. These three were all considered to be soft markers for Down's Syndrome. We chose not to have the amnio to deteremine if he did in fact have Down's. We had several other level 2 ultrasounds to track the kidneys over the course of the pregnancy. The echogenic focus remained throughout. I remember my ob telling me that his son also had this in utero and that he was born with no heart problems or conditions of any kind. My son was born completely normal and healthy. Hope this and the others give you some peace of mind! Good luck with your new baby!

When my son was 2, he went through the same thing. I just think that they get too excited and their mind is thinking faster than they can spit it out! He just turned 4 and he is fine, the stuttering went away on its own. Now I would say when he turns 4 and he is still stuttering, then I would get it evaluated.

Hi K.,

When I was pregnant with my now 6 year old I got a call about a heart problem with him at about 20 weeks too. I had an ultra sound with a fetal heart specialist. Sorry, I don't remember what they called it, but it turned out to be nothing. He was born with a perfectly normal heart and has been fine ever since. Hope yours turns out to be a similiar experience!

Hello. Are you or your husbnad of Asian descent? My sister had the same thing happen to her when she was PG with number 2. The doctor had her freaking out and then her husband walked back into the room and the technician said "Oh...that might explain it." My sister was so confused. Her husband is Asian and I guess this is more common in Asian babies than some other nationalities. In her case it turned out to be nothing and she has a healthy 5 year old boy. I don't know if this applies to you but i thought I would share. Best of luck to you.

I also had this happen with my first child. I was 37 at the time so I was already in that "high" risk group for a downs syndrome baby based on my age. All other genetic tests were good but when I was told that the baby had an echogenic focus I was scared and read up on it on the internet cause I had never heard of it before. The doctors told me that it increased our risks of having a downs baby - it had put our odds to 1 in 1000 from 1 in like 3 or 4,000. Had option to do amniocentesis but opted not to. Long story short, I had a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Try not to worry about it - I'm sure everything will turn out fine.