Neonatal screening for life-threatening conditions persistent – pulmonary hypertension in newborns and critical congenital heart disease – by the method of pulse oximetry

Abstract

Research objective: to assess the diagnostic significance of the pulse oximetry performed by the newborn for the 3rd hour of life to identify critical conditions and to justify the expediency of further introduction of this technology in the work of obstetric institutions. Results. In 5 maternity hospitals of the Republic of Tatarstan, from April 2016 to February 2017, 8358 88.4% of newborns were pulsometrically screened. Positive results were obtained in 95 (1.14%) patients. Because of screening, 13 newborns were diagnosed with congenital heart defects, not diagnosed in utero, in the first hours of life, five of them were critical. All newborns with critical congenital heart defects were successfully operated. Besides, 20 patients had persistent pulmonary hypertension, 30 had intrauterine pneumonia. Conclusions. The measurement of saturation at the 3rd hour of life of a newborn allows avoiding life-threatening complications in children with critical congenital heart defects and persistent pulmonary hypertension and in a stable state to transfer them to a further treatment stage.