Antenatal Cardiac Diagnosis, Counseling and Management

Abstract

Prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease is a very important and a challenging discipline which has evolved essentially in the last two decades with advancement in sonography and echocardiography. The scope has changed gradually from only fetal diagnosis to a possible chance of fetal intervention. It involve extensive counseling of the family before evaluation, performing a diagnostic test with a high degree of sensitivity and specifity which in this case is fetal echocardiography, post evaluation counseling of the family, in-utero care of the fetus diagnosed to have CHD, arrangements of safe delivery at a centre well equipped with all modalities in neonatal practice, post delivery care of the newborn. It essentially requires active participation of all members of the team comprising of the obstetrician, pediatric cardiologist, neonatologist and pediatric cardiac surgeon.