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Twin Mama, I know I not having twins but I wanted to share my expericence with you, I too was diagnosed with EIF on my little guy, I freaked out for a good week until I say a specialist. Then sitting with them and learning that often times if the muscle that seperates the lower and upper heart ventricles is not thick enough the frequency of the ultrasound can reflect off of a cone shaped object that we all have in our hearts (its part of the anatomy/physiology) and cause this white mark on an ultrasound. I know this is not always the case, but I would recommend asking to see a neonatal cardiologist. Good luck I know everything will be ok! LEts all pray!

Hi everyone. In Oct my husband and I had an U/S the tech was showing us all different parts of our sweet little angel. When we got to the heart the tech goes "Oh there is an EIF on your baby's heart. They used to say it was a soft marker for Downs... oh and there is another foot and a..." My husband and I were like wait go back. Then she told us it was NO Big Deal, so we didn’t worry about it. When we went to see the doctor a week later, he said. I see you are having a girl and oh she has an EIF on her heart. He then told us that it was NO Big deal, but we need a level 2 U/S. If it's no big deal why do we need more test?! How could anyone not worry a little? We didn’t get any blood work done because we didn’t care to know or not to know. We knew either way we would love our gift from God. Well we go tomorrow for our level 2 U/S. I am not too worried anymore after reading everything on here and online. We are praying but know that God would not give a special child to just anyone. Thanks for the support Big Mum

During my pregnancy I visited this and other sites almost daily because at my 18 month ultrasound the dr found an echogenic foci in my sons heart. I am 33 and spent the rest of my pregnancy scared. I did not have any other tests beside the two ultrasounds. I promised myself I would come and post on the sites that helped me through the remaining months until his birth in september. As an isolated finding, the chances of downsyndrome are small, I encourage you not to worry (easier said than done, I know). I have talked to many women, dr's and nurses who all told this finding is becoming more common and in women under 35 considered a natural varient. My son was born strong and healthy. Thank you to all the women who shared their stories and happiness and comfort to all the women who are experiencing uncertainty and fear now.

I just wanted to update all of you on my experience. I am happy to report that my daughter was born healthy. It's been a year and six months. Even though I was scared after learning the news about the EIF, the moment she was born it didn't even cross my mind. Maybe it's because of the 3 hours of labor/2 epidurals/emergency c section and loss of 3 pints of blood? But I remember thinking the next morning "She's healthy!". :D Good luck to all moms!

I am 25 weeks pregnant and I was told at my 20 week US my baby boy has a white spot on his heart.Yesterday I had another US and the foci is still there, I really hoped it will go away, but it did not. I was told that the baby was measuring good otherwise and yesterday baby was showing a normal weight of 1 pound 12oz.Everything else seems normal.My AFP was showing a risk of 1 in 10000 after the foci was discovered.It is still very painful for me to just wait and be able to do nothing for my baby.Every time I remember the foci I have tears in my eyes.No other genetic disorthers in my family and I did everything possible to have a healthy baby.Still, I cannot calm myself.I asked the doctor if I should do more testing or if I should have a ecocardiogram on the baby's heart , but she said is unnecessary.I did not go for a second oppinion, and maybe I should go, just to rest a__sured that everything else is ok and that no other markers were missed on the US.If anybody else did something more after finding out about the EIF, could you share what?

I am 31y and 25 weeks pregnant and I was told at my 20 week US my baby boy has a white spot on his heart.Yesterday I had another US and the foci is still there, I really hoped it will go away, but it did not. I was told that the baby was measuring good otherwise and yesterday baby was showing a normal weight of 1 pound 12oz.Everything else seems normal.My AFP was showing a risk of 1 in 10000 after the foci was discovered.It is still very painful for me to just wait and be able to do nothing for my baby.Every time I remember the foci I have tears in my eyes.No other genetic disorthers in my family and I did everything possible to have a healthy baby.Still, I cannot calm myself.I asked the doctor if I should do more testing or if I should have a ecocardiogram on the baby's heart , but she said is unnecessary.I did not go for a second oppinion, and maybe I should go, just to rest a__sured that everything else is ok and that no other markers were missed on the US.If anybody else did something more after finding out about the EIF, could you share what?

I am 27 y/o and 22 weeks pregnant (on Thanksgiving). My husband and I received information that our baby boy Keaton has a EIF this Friday, when the dr. reviewed the u/s findings. I have been on and off all weekend between crying and positive thinking. However, I am encouraged by all of the postings on this site and hope to post my success story in March of 2011. I plan on calling my dr. tomorrow to see if we can get a level II u/s done--just to ease my mind. This was the only "soft" marker that they found and she said that she was not concerned at all--however, I think that additional, non-invasive testing would make me feel better. Can anyone tell me where they get their risk a__sessments? I would love to know what our chances are in numbers--this could also ease my mind.

I found this article in an science abstract: "Our objective was to evaluate the significance of an echogenic intracardiac focus in a mixed population of fetuses at high and low risk for aneuploidy. Over a 1 year period, we prospectively identified all fetuses with an echogenic intracardiac focus seen during prenatal sonography. A detailed structural evaluation was performed on each fetus as permitted by gestational age. The location and number of foci were tabulated prospectively, as were a__sociated abnormalities. Follow-up was obtained by review of the medical record. Of the 290 fetuses who had an echogenic intracardiac focus, 14 of them were aneuploid (4.8%). Of the 290 mothers, 125 women were aged 35 years or older and 165 women were younger than 35 years old. Among the 125 fetuses born to women 35 years or older, eight were aneuploid fetuses (6.4%), while among the 165 fetuses of younger mothers, six were aneuploid fetuses (3.6%) (rate ratio = 1.8; 95% confidence interval [extremes] = 0.6, 4.9). Only one of the 14 aneuploid fetuses had an echogenic intracardiac focus as the only sonographic finding, and this occurred in a woman aged 41 years. The majority of the echogenic intracardiac foci (87.6%) were located in the left ventricle, while 4.8% of the foci were right-sided and 7.6% were bilateral. Among the 14 aneuploid fetuses, 14% had bilateral echogenic intracardiac foci and 7% had right-sided foci. Among the euploid fetuses, 7.3% had bilateral echogenic intracardiac foci and 4.7% had right-sided foci. In conclusion, we have shown that the presence of an echogenic intracardiac focus does raise the risk that the fetus has a chromosomal abnormality, most commonly Down syndrome, although all but one aneuploid fetus in our study had other sonographic findings."

Sadriana- Thanks for the article--always nice to see another encouraging statistic. I called my doc this morning and am hoping to hear back from her, by tomorrow at the latest, about getting the level II ultrasound and our own personal risk a__sessment. I also just want her to go step by step through our u/s to ensure me that all necessary measurements were taken and that everything else is as "normal" as she said. Worried.

Sadriana - thank you so much for posting that! Those are the types of statistics I was looking for. I've been wanting to know how many women over the age of 35 have children with downs syndrome when only the EIF was noted as a possible marker. I know the risk is slightly increased - but it is comforting to see that the risk of something being wrong with my baby is about the same as the risk of something going wrong with an amnio, so I feel like I made the right decision for me in not having the amnio (I'm also having twins, which would make the amnio risks even greater). And I will tell you that when I found out about the EIF at my 19 week ultrasound, I spent two weeks crying pretty much every day. But - after getting on this message board, doing some more research, and talking to other people who have had similar experiences, I'm feeling much more calm these days. What will be will be, but I've been able to enjoy my pregnancy and look forward to the future much more a few weeks later. Hang in there.

TwinMama- Thanks for your positive posting! I think that all of us have to take your lead and "feel calmer and enjoy our pregnancies." It can't be good if we all keep worrying and don't realize that the odds are in our favor! This kaiser permanente posting has been my favorite web find thus far--very rea__suring. The EIF is considered a normal variation in fetal development and has not been found to have any long term health problems or heart problems for the baby. Most of the time, EIF is seen during the routine prenatal ultrasound done around 18-20 weeks in pregnancy. If there are no other ultrasound findings, the EIF is considered an “isolated” finding. While it is impossible to be completely certain that no birth defects are present in the baby, most pregnancies with isolated EIF will result in a healthy baby. mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org

Hello Moms and Moms-to-be, About 17 weeks ago, I found out that my baby girl, had an isolated echogenic intracardiac focus. Of course, this was explained in detail to me what it meant for her heart, and what its relationship was to Down's Syndrome. Now, for me, an amnio was completely out of the question. Even though I wanted to know so bad whether or not she would have Down's, it was not worth the risk to me of losing her. So, the next few days consited of me scouring the internet in search for information regarding these EIF's. I found that much of this ended in positive situations, however, I was still terrified that this would not be the case for my baby. We chose to see a specialist regarding this, who went over the fetal anatomy and looked for other anomalies. He was optimistic that our baby was perfectly healthy and normal, but I STILL worried about this, and that it could still end negatively for us. My best friend came across this website, and decided to share it with me. I read this forum, and all the positive outcomes. Let me tell you all, it was a blessing for me to find it. I was even able to stop focusing on the "FOCUS" and think positively about our situation as well. I researched Down's and learned what a blessing these children were to their families, and I also learned that the EIF had no effect on the way that the heart worked. It was such an inspiration to have this forum readily available, though, when I was worrying about my baby and her EIF. I had good and bad days, mostly good thanks to the forum, but I never let it consume me after learning that this hardly ever resulted in a bad way. With that being said, I would like to say, 3 days ago, I had a beautiful, perfect, healthy, baby girl with no health issues noted! I asked our peditrician about the EIF, and he basically blew me off, stating that he had already done physical a__sessments for Down's and my baby didn't meet any of his concerns, and that the isolated EIF was never a concern! I am so blessed and happy! I promised myself when she got here, I would post the outcome. Yes everyone, another healthy baby with an EIF! Pleae stay strong and have faith that all will be well, because more than likely everything will turn out wonderfully! God bless all (and sorry for the incredibly long post!)

That's wonderful news, mistyboswell! I'm so happy for you! And I'm very hopeful that in a few short weeks (only 7 to go - if I make it that far!) I will have similar news to report. Thanks for sharing.

TwinMama, I know that you will have a wonderful outcome, I am so positive. I am also so glad that I could share my story. 7 weeks isn't long, they will be here before ya know it!!

Wonderful news mistyboswell, and thank you for sharing. I am 28 w4d along and hope for the same outcome. I still pray every day for a healthy baby boy, but for now all I can do is enjoying his kicks and turns and his response to my touch. I’ll definitely post my ending story here, because I got a lot of hope from all of these posts. Whish you all healthy happy babies!

Hi ladies!! I'm new to this site & forum. I am 38, healthy and expecting twins in 5/11. I was just told that one of the twins has an EIF. I did the 1st trimester blood test/us; everything was fine. My risk for DS is 1:2600, but now with EIF, it is 1:850. I'm stricken with worry, anxiety & despair. What are your thoughts? Thanks!!!