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No Yolk Seen in First Ultrasound

QUESTION

I saw spotting exactly four weeks after my LMP. I tested positive three days later on a home pregnancy test. As suggested by the doctor, I went for my first ultrasound six weeks after my last menstrual period.

Ultrasound did find a sack in uterus but no yolk inside it or outside it. They have asked for a followup ultrasound 10 days later. The doctor says it might be a late pregnancy and yolk might not have developed yet. What are the chances of that happening?

Please help.

ANSWER

Hello,

An ultrasound in the early weeks of pregnancy can cause a mommy-to-be a great deal of anxiety. Because one never really knows when conception happens, the dating of pregnancy may be off a week or more. When an ultrasound is done and an empty gestational sac is seen, there are a few possibilities.

  1. The gestation has not grown large enough to be seen on the ultrasound.
  2. The pregnancy is what is called a blighted ovum. This is where a gestational sac forms without the embryo developing inside.
  3. The sac seen on the ultrasound is what is called a "pseudosac." A pseudosac forms in the uterus when there is a pregnancy growing in the fallopian tube.

I can't really say what the chances are one way or another with a case like yours. What I can say is
the most common scenario is that an ultrasound is done too early in pregnancy. Usually when the 2nd ultrasound is done 7-10 days later, a fetal pole with a heartbeat is seen.

With Regards,
~Jane Foley RDMS

Jane Foley

Jane Foley has worked as a Sonographer (Ultrasound Technologist) since 1979. Jane has lived and worked in many parts of the world including Saudi Arabia. She is a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer or RDMS. She pulls a wealth of information from her experience in the field of Radiology and her interactions with such a broad cross-section of cultures she has visited. She now makes her home on the island of Maui with her English husband, Michael.