THUNDER BAY - Newborn babies will have one more test to look forward to on their first few days of life, but this newest test could play a key role in saving a life.
Over the next few months, hospitals across the province will be implementing screening on all newborn babies for congenital heart defects.
“There are three babies in 1,000 that will be born with a congenital heart defect and many times those babies may not be picked up when they are first born,” said Rhonda Crocker-Ellacott, executive vice president of patient services at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
“So the ability to pick that up through routine screening on every baby means that those babies could receive further investigations very quickly.”
Newborns already receive hearing and blood tests before being discharged from the hospital, and now pulse oximetry will be added to the list.
“We will be reporting back to Newborn Screening Ontario what the results of those tests are, as well as to the physician attending that baby to ensure that baby doesn’t have a congenital heart defect,” Crocker-Ellacott said.
According to Crocker-Ellacott, approximately 1,500 babies are born at the Health Sciences Centre every year. In Ontario, it is estimated that between 50 and 100 babies born with a congenital heart defect go undiagnosed.
By standardizing screening, babies who may be born with a heart defect will receive treatment that could be life-saving.
“They would get further care, as well as better outcomes because it was identified that they have this heart defect that may have otherwise gone unnoticed,” Crocker-Ellacott said. “It’s very easy routine screening to institute across Ontario hospitals, to ensure that we are able to save more babies and provide them with early intervention treatment and life-saving surgeries many times.”
The screening will begin at the Regional Health Sciences Centre next month. Pulse oximetry has always been available at the Health Sciences Centre upon request by a physician and will remain so until the screening becomes mandatory.
