Is mild renal pelvic ectasis in fetus risky?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am 19 weeks pregnant. I went for my second-level ultrasound and found a cyst of 0.28 inches in the right choroid plexus, an intracardiac echogenic focus in the right ventricle, and bilateral mild pelvic ectasis: the right renal pelvis is 0.12 inches and the left 0.17 inches.

Is this serious and harmful to my baby?

Please help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

First of all, understand clearly the findings in your sonography and try to understand them.

Choroid plexus cyst and intracardiac echogenic focus, when they are single, are termed as isolated findings and mostly go off as the pregnancy advances. So, there is no problem, and they are only isolated findings in 99.9 percent of cases.

Some link this to soft tissue markers for Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a genetic syndrome in which babies can have many problems, mild to major, physical and functional, including those of the heart and brain. Now, there is no study that examines cases where there is more than one marker, and when specifically these two are present, and the chance of having a baby with Down syndrome.

The kidney is normal and will go off. Now, if you really want to test whether it is Down's or not, you have to do amniocentesis and send the fluid around the baby for genetic testing. However, the procedure itself contains some risks, is expensive, and takes almost 10 to 15 days to achieve the desired result.

If you do test today, then it will also be too late for termination of your pregnancy, as it will be around 22 weeks of pregnancy when the result comes. So, you cannot terminate this pregnancy. There is also a very rare chance that it comes positive, and almost a 90 to 95 percent chance of having a negative test and a normal baby.

But, yes, you are in a very tough situation when making any decision. The above information is to make you understand the situation, and no one will give you the proper, definite answer because there is no definite answer to this. As I said, there is no study available about the chance of Down syndrome when two or a few soft tissue markers come positive.

You will find that some are saying that it is related to Down's, and there is another school of thought now emerging that these findings are not related to Down's and that there is no need to worry.

As far as amniocentesis is concerned, if you want to do it, then consult your gynecologist. He will guide you through the proper procedures, their merits and demerits, precautions, and what to expect.

I hope this helps you.

Thank you.