By Ramesh Vidavalur, MD, MBA; Nitin Wadhwa, MD
Objective
Congenital Heart Diseases (CHDs) are serious and common conditions that have a significant impact on morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs in children. CHDs are also the most common birth defects affecting nearly 1% of live births every year in the United States, and are the leading cause of birth defect-associated morbidity and mortality among infants.1 Fifteen percent to twenty-five percent of these infants are estimated to have Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) (a subgroup of Congenital Heart Defects that often cause severe and life-threatening symptoms and are a major cause of cardiovascular mortality in newborns, requiring specialized procedures and surgery within the first year of life.2,3,4 With improved screening programs, early identification and advances in cardiothoracic surgery, survival rates of newborns with CCHDs have been steadily improving, and have enabled the majority of these patients to reach adulthood.
To read the full article, please go to the April 2017 Issue of CCT, where it was originally published.