Echogenic Foci and How It Affects the Child

Hello,
I can't give you any long term data, but my 4 month old was also worked up prenatally because of one of these foci. My husband and I are both physician's and were very concerned, as any parent, when told our baby had a heart abnormality. From what we have gathered, it seems like these foci are probably just one of those things that is turning up more often now that we have so much technology to use to spy on our fetuses. The one study that got folks looking for these was a Japanese study, in which they occurred in less than 5% of the population. The prevalence in the melting pot of our countries ethnic smorgasborg is unknown, but it could be about the same. As of last fall, I haven't checked since, there have been no published studies on the long term effects of these calcifications. They are thought to be harmless, and perhaps have always been there; in the past we simply didn't have the technology to observe them. The prenatal/pediatric cardiology specialist we saw told us basically not to worry about the focus. Since our baby was breech, I continued to have a number of ultrasounds up until a week prior to delivery, and the focus actually was almost gone by the time I delivered. I know this isn't the concrete answer you want to hear, but I hope it helps.

Have you been referred to a Pediatric Cardiologist???
Here's a link on it:
http://www.medfriendly.com/echogeniccardiacfoci.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echogenic_intracardiac_focus

We were referred to a Pediatric Cardiologist, with my daughter, per our ultrasound of her... but hers was a different kind of 'suspected' heart defect.
Through a pure miracle and lots of prayers, she was born NORMAL and her heart was normal upon birth. She is a healthy little girl now. :)

Ask a specialist if anything.

All the best,
Susan

We had the same thing showing in ultrasounds. Our son received an echocardiagram after he was born and everything was fine. It was scary at the time, but our doctor kept telling us that it was very likely to be nothing. I wish I had believed him and spent less time worrying.

My now 5.5 year old had that in our 20 week ultrasound and I panicked, was sent to a Perinatolist at 24 weeks and it was gone...I believe God healed her in my womb :o) Since birth, she is a fiesty and sweet, we call her peppercini for that reason, little girl that is so full of energy, much more than any of the other 3 in our home!! Not once has she had any problems and rarely gets sick, also, her developement has been great and she has always been a little ahead of the game!!

God Bless you & your family!!

JM,
My baby had the same she is now 3 years old and perfectly healthy. Do not worry please, nowdays with internet and all the available info we get more worried for little things. I spent nights crying over nothing she was born normal, the "pearl" was gone at the 28 weeks check up. Enjoy your pregnancy!

The echogenic foci also showed at our 20 week u/s. Our son is now 20 months and completely fine! They never even needed to monitor or check again. I think there is just too much information available with all the tests they do... sometimes you can be alarmed for no reason.