It is usually the site of a small calcium . He said it happens in 1-5% of pregnancies. An echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) is a small spot (sometimes two spots) in the fetal heart that appear to be as white as bone during an ultrasound examination. Is Echogenic Focus Dangerous? - | WeAnswer 5. You see, the fetus is undergoing a process called organogenesis (the formation of organs) which involves a lot of cellular divisions and DNA replication. I appreciate all of the info! The cause of an echogenic intracardiac focus is unknown. Its rarely the case, most babies with an echogenic focus turn out to be perfectly fine with no diseases or malformation. So at my 20 week scan on Monday they found an EIF. The tightness of the association between an isolated EIF and aneuploidy continues to be debated. PDF Echogenic Intracardiac Focus (EIF) - Kaiser Permanente BUT! Found in 2% of normal fetuses. Echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) is a small bright spot seen in the baby's heart on an ultrasound exam. The specialist said that any one of those 4 things would be nothing to worry about but since I had all 4 they wanted to do further testing since 2 are signs of Downs syndrome and 2 are signs of triploidy. In fact, up to 20% or 1 in 5 babies are found to have an echogenic focus in the second or third trimester of the pregnancy. In radiology, there are many machines and devices used to scan the human body to help with diagnoses and treatments. Most EIF seen in the middle of the pregnancy will not go away before delivery. I explain what it means and why they shouldnt worry. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Management options for echogenic intracardiac focus and choroid plexus December 2013. An EIF does not generally impact the overall health of the baby or the development of his or her heart. (calcium deposit) They said it was minor and that this can appear on any fetus whether or not the baby has downs. EIFs are found in about 3-5% of normal pregnancies and cause no health problems.") My doctor didnt seem to be too worried, since it's the only soft marker for DS they were able to see. 2004;23 (7): 895-8. Youve probably have taken an X-ray before, right? Keep us posted on how the genetic karyotyping turns out!