On Sep 3, 11:17 pm, alath wrote:
The US tech is right, a fetal stomach is a normal finding. If
stomach full is the radiologist's real concern, frankly, I would look
for a new radiologist. So I would press the radiologist to explain
what he/she is concerned about.

+1

Seeing amniotic fluid in the stomach is NORMAL. It is abnormal if you
CAN'T see fluid in the stomach.

Duodenal atresia and other GI obstructions DO NOT result in the
finding of simply seeing fluid in the stomach. Rather, they usually
cause extra, abnormal fluid collections ELSEWHERE than in the stomach.
Duodenal atresia in particular usually causes the proximal small bowel
to be dilated and fluid-filled, resulting in the classic "double
bubble" sign - one fluid-filled stomach bubble (normal) plus an
additional fluid-filled small bowel bubble (abnormal). These kind of
obstructions often result in excess amniotic fluid around the baby as
well.

At this point, I have to either conclude:
1) your radiologist does not know what is going on and is whipping up
concern over a normal finding
2) your radiologist is "dumbing down" the discussion - instead of
clearly explaining what is a genuine abnormal finding, he/she is
presenting his/her findings in a technically inaccurate way in a
misguided attempt to avoid confusing you
3) you have misunderstood what your radiologist was saying

The fact that the sonographer disagreed and considered the finding
normal does not reflect well on the radiologist. Most sonographers, if
certified in OB ultrasound, know as much or more about normal vs.
abnormal than most radiologists do. It would be very, very strange for
a radiologist to pick up on an abnormality that the sonographer did
not recognize as abnormal. If the sonographer is not certified in OB
ultrasound then all bets are off.

If any additional information arises to clarify the picture, please
let us know. With the info we have right now, though, my diagnosis is
"normal baby, complicated by clueless radiologist."


Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to provide an update on this story. We had the next
ultrasound with the same radiologist and the stomach was still full -
We were sent to speak with the genetics group right away and they
answered all of our questions - it was great to hear from them and not
the radiologist that we were forced to work with! The Genetics group
booked me in for an amnio at a well-respected Hospital. We had the
amnio which included a "fish" (sp?) test so we could get some of the
results back quickly. The results came back saying the baby does not
have down's syndrome. We also went to another Radiologist for a
second opinion and findings were that the stomach was not full or
prominent at that time so we're in the clear!

Thanks to everyone for the information provided. You helped me and my
husband tremendously.
Best wishes to all,
Jules