Fetal Cardiac Intervention: a Review of the Current Literature

Abstract

Congenital heart disease (CHD), the most common of birth defects, can be serious enough to require a lifetime of medical care including multiple surgeries or other interventions. Advances in ultrasound technology and a better understanding of the progression of CHDs have made it possible to intervene in utero. This early-stage intervention allows the still plastic cardiovascular system to return to a more normal trajectory thus sparing the newborn from negative consequences to morbidity and mortality. Fetal cardiac intervention (FCI) has been successful altering the course of right and left ventricular disease. This bodes well for expanding the use of FCI to lead to better postnatal adaptation and improved long-term function for more children with CHD. However, optimism with success must be tempered with small numbers of procedures performed thus far and current efforts with international registries and multi-centered studies are extremely important to document improved survival and resultant biventricular outcomes.