What do bright spots in pregnancy scans tell us about children’s hearts?

The Welsh study of mothers and babies - examining the association between cardiac echogenic foci at the 18-20 week antenatal scan and cardiac disease in early childhood: An electronic record-linked cohort study

Each day in the UK, 12 babies are diagnosed with a heart defect that occurs as the baby develops in the womb. Pregnant women have an ultrasound scan when they are about 20 weeks pregnant, and nearly half of all serious heart defects are detected then. However, doctors aren’t sure if some of the things seen on this scan mean that the baby has a heart problem. For example, sometimes bright spots – called echogenic foci – can be seen in the baby’s heart, but it’s unclear if they are significant. Dr Lisa Hurt and her team will now look back at the five-year medical records of a group of children who had bright spots on their scans, and children who did not. They will determine if children with these spots had more heart problems. They will also examine if having more spots, or spots in certain areas of the heart, made any difference to their heart health. The results of this study will give doctors a much better guide on how to care for mothers and babies if bright spots in the heart are seen in the 20 week scan. If the bright spots are found not to be linked to future heart problems, it will help to give families a great deal of reassurance.