Experts Recommend Screening Newborns for Heart Defects
Simple, inexpensive test can identify rare but serious conditions
August 26, 2011An expert panel recommends infants be screened for critical heart problems using a simple, non-invasive test called pulse oximetry.
One of the scariest things a new parent can hear is, “your baby has a birth defect.” But some of the most dangerous birth defects are are invisible ones, such as deformities in the baby's tiny heart.
Now, a group of U.S. experts is recommending that all newborns get a simple, inexpensive screening for critical heart defects.
Congenital heart disease affects only about one birth out of 120 in the United States, and only a fraction of those are considered critical. But given the number of babies born each year, it adds up.
About three-quarters of critical heart defects can be identified by routine tests already in use, "but unfortunately there are still cases that can slip through," says Duke University pediatrician Alex Kemper. "And the challenge is that it can be almost impossible to identify some of these cases. These are babies that otherwise look totally normal and like every other baby in the nursery."
Kemper is a member of the expert panel that is recommending infants be screened for critical heart problems using a simple, non-invasive test called pulse oximetry.
The idea is to measure the oxygen level in the blood. Low oxygen levels may signal a problem with the heart.
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2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27