All pregnant women’s most searched keywords will be “is anomaly scan necessary”, its purpose, and what it can and cannot detect. It is an ultrasound scan that looks for conditions such as cleft lip and spina bifida in your baby.

Your placenta will also be checked by your fetal medicine specialist. The 20-week scan is a standard part of antenatal care. It’s often the first time you’ll see your baby’s face and possibly learn what gender he or she is.

What happens when we miss an Anomaly scan?

Since an Anomaly scan is an important detailed scan that is performed to examine each part of the fetal body and to check for any abnormalities, it is advisable not to miss it.

This scan is used to track your baby’s development. It is done to rule out any major anomalies in your baby so that appropriate intervention can be initiated as soon as possible.

There is a small chance that some of the anomalies will be missed despite the scan, which we will learn only after the baby is born.

Why Anomaly scan is important?

The scan is more crucial as it looks for 11 important conditions in your baby inside. While some can be treated when your baby is born, there are some that cannot be.

If the condition is treatable, your fetal medicine specialist will be able to ensure that your baby receives the appropriate care as soon as they are born.

Some conditions are easier to detect than others, while others are difficult to detect at all. We have tried to collate all the conditions with a clear number of babies affected by them:

1. Congenital heart disease (CHD): Otherwise called CHD, this refers to a variety of heart defects such as chamber and valve defects.
2. Cleft lip: This is a split in the upper lip that occurs between the mouth and the nose (1 in 1,300).
3. Edwards syndrome: A genetic disorder caused by an extra chromosome 18. (1 in 1,500).
4. Spina bifida: This is a condition affecting the spine and the spinal cord (1 in 1,666).
   
5. Anencephaly: Sometimes a life-threatening condition, this has large portions of the skull and brain missing (1 in 2,000).
   
6. Gastroschisis: This condition is an abdominal wall defect in which the belly button does not develop properly and the intestines grow outside the body (1 in 2,000).
7. Exomphalos: An abdominal wall defect in which the bowel and, in some cases, the liver protrude into the umbilical cord (1 in 2,500).
   
8. Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH): This is a hole in the muscle that connects the chest and abdomen at birth (1 in 2,500).
9. Patau’s Syndrome: A genetic disorder caused by an extra chromosome 13. (1 in 4,000).
10. Bilateral renal agenesis: This is a fatal condition in which both kidneys fail to develop (1 in 5,000).
11. Severe skeletal dysplasia: This occurs when bone development is so impaired that the chest and lungs do not develop (1 in 10,000).

Surgical intervention will be needed after the baby is born to treat some conditions, such as cleft lip/palate, detected on the anomaly scan.

Some conditions, such as heart defects and bowel obstructions, may not be detected until your pregnancy is further along. Because the vast majority of babies are born healthy, having an anomaly scan will almost certainly rule out all of these conditions.

Rarely, the scan will reveal serious anomalies that are untreatable and incompatible with life. You will be given a choice to end your pregnancy in such circumstances. You might be provided with another test to confirm the scan results if there is any uncertainty about them.