Echogenic bowel at 20 week ultrasound

[yulia73]

Hello...I have seen a few posts on here regarding echogenic bowel but they date back several years and I'm wondering if there are any new experiences or updates on old posts that may relieve some of my fear.  I just had my 20 week ultrasound for my first pregnancy.  I'm 37 and conceived through IVF.  Everything up to this point has been great...all my tests are good, maternal serum testing, 12 week ultrasound all normal.  Everything was normal with the last ultrasound except for the echogenic bowel which could mean a bunch of stuff like DS, CF, or an infection.  We are declining amnio and are scheduled for another u/s in 4 weeks.

Has anyone else gone through this...having one soft marker?  I'm really interested to hear about other peoples experiences whether good or bad.  Thanks!

[yulia73]

That's what I'm hoping for.  We worked so hard to get pregnant, I'm trying to stay as positive as I can but sometimes it can be hard to do.  All of the info I have found pretty much says that in the absence of any other abnormal findings an echogenic bowel usually means nothing so that's what I am trying to focus on.

[yulia73]

Thank you!  It does help to hear of it being absolutely nothing.  We decided not to go through with amnio since it won't change the outcome.  The baby is measuring at the appropriate size for gestational age so that's good.

Thanks again!

[NicMom]

We had an echogenic bowel at our 20 week with my last pregnancy and heard the same thing that it was a marker for CF or Downs. She was also measuring almost two weeks behind and that's apparently another marker. We followed up with a perinatologist and had a more in depth ultrasound done. In the end the diagnosis from the peri was that the baby had swallowed amniotic fluid that had a little bit of blood in it. That's the number one diagnosis and she ended up being normal and healthy just a little smaller.

Good luck at your amnio! I hope you have similar results.