Neonatal cardiac ultrasound: How accurate are we?

To assess the accuracy of neonatal clinician-performed cardiac ultrasound (CPU) in detection of congenital heart disease (CHD) in newborn infants with no antenatally suspected cardiac abnormality.

We reviewed records of all infants diagnosed with CHD, identified all new cases of CHD detected by CPU and classified them as 'severe' or 'other'; the 'severe CHD' was further classified as 'critical' or 'non-critical CHD'. We compared the CPU diagnosis to the final diagnosis as per paediatric cardiologist echocardiography.

A total of 357 infants identified to have any form of CHD; 50 newly diagnosed by neonatal CPU: 21 'severe' and 29 'other' CHD. The neonatologist CPU had a high concordance rate with the final diagnosis. There were three incorrect diagnoses identified by CPU.

This audit demonstrates high accuracy, in our unit, of neonatal CPU in identifying new cases of CHD not suspected antenatally. A neonatal CPU could enhance the pickup rate and, with appropriate referral to a paediatric cardiologist, improve the clinical care of infants born with CHD.