Zeitschrift für Neonatalbiologie

Abstrakt

Fetal anomaly screening to detect congenital heart defects

Yogen Singh and Luke McGeoch

Congenital heart defects remain the most common malformation in live births and the leading cause of child mortality in industrialized countries. Significant developments in the treatment of these defects over the last decade have significantly improved the survival chances of children with congenital heart defects. Early diagnosis and timely treatment of critical and severe congenital heart defects is essential for a better prognosis. Screening for heart defects is performed to detect critical and severe congenital heart defects prenatally between 18+0 and 20+6 weeks of pregnancy. This supports professionals and parents in making important decisions regarding pregnancy, birth planning and preparing parents for the problems to expect. Prenatal diagnosis of critical congenital heart defects has been shown to improve the prognosis in children with critical congenital heart defects.