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Neonatology (Expert Forum)
Adrenal Glands
Answered by
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco - CA
Questions in the Neonatology Forum are being answered by doctors at University of California, San Francisco.
Adrenal Glands
by tabby8135, Nov 05, 2008 07:14PM
Not sure if this is the right place to post this, I saw that you also answer perinatology questions, So i hope that you can answer mine. I have been trying like crazy to find my own answer by researching the internet but my attempts have failed. I will give you a brief history on me first. Im 22 years old. It took my husband and i 2 years to concieve the first time. I found out in the middle of that im hypothyroid. Currently on 88mcg synthorid. LMP was april 8th 2008. Since then i have had 2 misscarriages, and my current pregnancy. (so dating for this pregnancy was made by early ultrasound. I am 20 weeks and 5 days today( ultrasound today also matched this date). Baby is a girl, the ultrasound tech was in training today, so the real ultrasound tech was doing mostly observation and teaching. In the mist of my ultrasound they did all the normal measurments of brain kidneys etc etc. Then she made a note that the adrenal gland could be seen (easily) and that they shouldnt be seen until the third trimester. She wasnt really talking to me but to her trainee, but it worries me as all the information i find about adrenal glands is frightening. She took a picture of it and walked out. Came back and never said another word about it. That scares me. My husband is in the military and we are currently moving. That was my last time to be at that ob clinic, as i signed my medical record out today as we will be moving in 10 days. So my question is, when should a normal fetal adrenal gland be able to be seen on ultrasound without it being abnormal. And if its not till the third trimester what could be the causes of this in a 20.5week fetua??? thanks
Doctor's Answer
by Yao Sun, MD, PhD, Nov 06, 2008 05:56PM
, Nov 06, 2008 05:56PM
Thank you for the question: I am not a perinatologist, but I was able to ask some of my fetal ultrasound colleagues about visualizing the adrenal gland. They stated that although the adrenal gland is most commonly seen in the 3rd trimester, it can also sometimes be seen in the 2nd trimester as a normal finding.
There can be abnormalities of the adrenal gland, but these are more rare. The best thing to do is ask your physician for the diagnostic intepretation of the scan by the radiologist (not the ultrasound tech). The final reading by the radiologist should provide the information you want about whether the adrenal gland was normal but just visualized early.
There can be abnormalities of the adrenal gland, but these are more rare. The best thing to do is ask your physician for the diagnostic intepretation of the scan by the radiologist (not the ultrasound tech). The final reading by the radiologist should provide the information you want about whether the adrenal gland was normal but just visualized early.
