The Impact of Fetal Echocardiography on the Prognosis of Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease (CHD) represents the group of the most common malformations detected both prenatally and after birth. Although progress in the management and treatments of CHD, it still remains a significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. However, the recent improvement in the diagnosis and therapy of CHD represents one of the most important successes of cardiac surgery and medical treatment. Accordingly, in the last twenty years, the number of patients with CHD who have reached adulthood has increased significantly and even surpass the number of affected pediatric patients, due to the extraordinary progress in the diagnostic, clinical, and surgical technologies. In particular, the ultrasound study of the fetal heart allows a diagnosis of CHD in the prenatal period, significantly improves perinatal outcomes in infants with critical CHD, and enables a reduction in stillbirth