Prenatal diagnosis detects even the most complex heart defects. During ultrasound or echocardiography, the type of defect can be determined, as well as the efficiency of the entire circulatory system of the fetus. Prenatal diagnosis of a congenital heart defect allows doctors to prepare an appropriate treatment plan for the baby immediately after birth and, if necessary, even in the womb. Check what prenatal tests should be performed to detect heart defects in pregnancy and in which centers in Poland you can have such tests free of charge.

Prenatal diagnosis of heart defectsis very important because experience has shown that most often complex heart defects are detected, requiring multi-stage surgery. Therefore, their earlier detection enables doctors to prepare an appropriate treatment plan, and gives the child a better chance of survival and a normal life in the future.

How to detect a heart defect in pregnancy, i.e. ultrasound examinations

The first ultrasound of a woman expecting a baby should be performed between the 11th and 14th week of pregnancy. Even then, an experienced specialist can recognize a defect in the structure of the heart (however, it should be noted that this is not a reliable test).

Ultrasound examinations, the purpose of which is to assess the fetal heart, are performed around the 20th week of pregnancy. This is called half ultrasound. Thanks to it, you can define, among others the location and size of the heart, its rhythm (beats per minute). Thanks to the examination, it is also possible to obtain an image of the four chambers of the heart, three vessels in the mediastinum of the fetus, as well as the exit of the aorta and pulmonary artery.

IMPORTANT! The doctor should also order a Doppler examination - a type of ultrasound examination that allows to assess vascular flow.

CHECK>>Why is it necessary to do an ultrasound during pregnancy? Important

Ultrasound examination and other non-invasive prenatal tests aimed at detecting a heart defect in the fetus are not harmful to the he alth of the pregnant woman or the developing baby.

When to see a prenatal cardiologist?

Based on the ultrasound examination, the doctor determines whether a consultation with a prenatal cardiologist is necessary.

If the patient is low-risk and the resultobstetric ultrasound examination is abnormal (e.g. an abnormal image of the fetal heart or arrhythmia has been detected), a specialist in prenatal cardiology will confirm or rule out the abnormal structure of the fetal heart.

If the ultrasound examinations are ambiguous and raise any doubts about the structure of the fetus, consultation withprenatal cardiologistis also necessary.

The "fetal" cardiologist should be consulted by patients who belong tohigh-risk group , i.e. :

  • their family had heart defects
  • struggling with diabetes
  • have an overactive thyroid gland
  • suffer from epilepsy
  • past pregnancy rubella
  • struggle with heart disease
  • were treated for infertility
  • abusing alcohol
  • use drugs in the first months of pregnancy

The indications for prenatal cardiological consultation are also infections in the first trimester of pregnancy and systemic diseases of connective tissue.

IMPORTANT! If a patient already has a child with a complex heart defect, she should see a specialist between the 11th and 14th week of pregnancy.

This will be useful to you

USG 3D or 4D, as well as color USG are not more diagnostic than traditional 2D USG (two-dimensional image). They only help to establish a diagnosis of some very complex heart defects, but only after finding it on a 2D ultrasound.

Fetal echocardiography

Echocardiographic examination allows to accurately determine the type of congenital heart defect, as well as the cardiovascular capacity. Thanks to this, it can be determined whether the defect can be fully corrected in the future. This is the case, for example, in the case of great arterial trunks transposition, Fallot's syndrome, common arterial trunk, ventricular septal defect, aortic coarctation and total atrioventricular canal. In this case, it is rarely necessary to treat the fetus. Necessary treatments are usually performed in the first month after the baby is born.

Such an examination takes about 60 minutes. After its completion, a consultation is carried out, during which the doctor presents a treatment plan for the child.

These types of tests are performed free of charge in most institutions (as part of the National He alth Fund)

CHECK>>Centers in the country dealing with prenatal cardiology diagnostics

Test for the determination of the karyotype

Many heart defects found in fetuses are hereditary, therefore, after echocardiography, the doctor may refer the pregnant woman for a test aimed at determining the karyotype, i.e.chromosomes ", on the basis of which a more accurate diagnosis of the entire syndrome can be established. For example, chromosomal aberrations such as Edwards' syndrome (trisomy 18) or Patau syndrome (trisomy 13) do not give a chance for a newborn baby to survive (he usually dies in the first month of life).

IMPORTANT! These tests are invasive, which means that they are at risk of serious complications in the pregnancy and are therefore only performed when there is a reasonable likelihood of a heart defect.

Important

There are congenital heart defects that cannot be diagnosed in the fetus by prenatal testing. These are the Botalla ductus arteriosus and the defect of the atrial septum (these are natural connections in the fetus).

In prenatal examinations, aortic coarctation may also be invisible, because the development of the aortic arch ends only after delivery, after the ductus arteriosus is closed.

Therefore, the symptoms of congenital heart disease in the newborn should not be taken lightly, even if the echocardiographic examination during pregnancy was normal.

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Pregnant examinations