Baby Test Could Identify 500 More Heart Defects a Year
Added On : 5th August 2011
A simple screening test could pick up 500 extra serious heart defects among newborns every year, a report in The Lancet indicates.The test involves putting a small sensor on the hand and foot of a baby to check the blood oxygen level. Those with low levels are then sent for a heart ultrasound.
Currently babies are physically examined by a midwife at birth, but this leads to substantial numbers with congenital heart defects leaving hospital undiagnosed.
The study, of 20,000 babies across the West Midlands, found including 'pulse oximetry' could raise the detection rate to 92 per cent.
Dr Andrew Ewer, from Birmingham University, said: "We would like to see all babies being routinely tested. In this way the test will pick up additional babies who might otherwise have become very ill or even died."
