Importance of Newborn Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD)

 

Screening for critical congenital heart defects (critical CHDs) can help identify some babies with a critical CHD before they go home from the birth hospital. This allows these babies to be treated early and may prevent disability or death early in life.

 

How Newborn Screening for Critical CHDs is Done

 

Newborn screening for critical CHDs involves a simple bedside test called pulse oximetry. This test estimates the amount of oxygen in a baby’s blood. Low levels of oxygen in the blood can be a sign of a critical CHD. The test is done using a machine called a pulse oximeter, with sensors placed on the baby’s skin. The test is painless and takes only a few minutes.
Pulse oximetry screening does not replace a complete history and physical examination, which sometimes can detect a critical CHD before oxygen levels in the blood become low. Pulse oximetry screening, therefore, should be used along with the physical examination.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/facts.html

 

CCHD Screening in WV

The following algorithm has been developed to show the steps in screening:

 

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/hcp.html#Kemper

 

Letter from DHHR 2012