Impact and issues of detecting fetal congenital heart defects in Kyushu, Japan

Aim: To determine the current status of fetal CHD screening in our region and to establish a CHD screening system in Japan. Material and Methods: Subjects were 168 fetuses prenatally‐diagnosed with CHD at four referral centers in Japan from 2003 to 2007. Subjects were divided into two groups: group A (n = 84) included cases without extracardiac sonographic abnormalities and known risk factors for CHD and group B (n = 84) included those with extracardiac sonographic abnormalities or risk factors. The diagnostics and outcomes between the groups were analyzed. Results: There were more cases of single ventricle and restrictive ductus arteriosus and fewer cases of ventricular septal defect and double outlet right ventricle in group A than in group B (P