Using prenatal ultrasound to discover congenital
heart problems helps to improve a baby's chances of survival, reported doctors at the School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) in a recent issue of the journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
"Heart disease is the most common fatal congenital abnormality in the first year after birth," says Dr. Joshua A. Copel, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the medical school and chief of perinatology at YNHH. "If we use an ultrasound to evaluate the fetal heart and know before the baby is born that there is a problem, we can be prepared to correct the problem soon after the mother gives birth."
In the five-year study, doctors reviewed the cases of
99 infants who had "significant" heart disease, but no other life-threatening abnormalities requiring surgery. In about half the cases, the condition was discovered prenatally, while in the balance of cases, the heart disease was diagnosed after birth. The researchers concluded that the survival rate was better for babies diagnosed before birth (a 96 percent survival rate).
The first fetal heart monitoring equipment was developed by doctors at the School of Medicine in 1957, and the world's first Fetal Cardiovascular Center opened at YNHH in 1985.