Costs of Prenatal Detection of Congenital Heart Disease

Little information is available about the transportation costs incurred from the missed prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD). The objectives of the present study were to analyze the costs of emergency transportation related to the postnatal diagnosis of major CHD and to perform a cost/benefit analysis of additional training for ultrasound technicians to study the implications of improved prenatal detection rates. The 1-year costs incurred for emergency transportation of pre- and postnatally diagnosed infants with CHD in Northern California and North Western Nevada were calculated and compared. The prenatal detection rate in our cohort (n = 147) was 30.6%. Infants postnatally diagnosed were 16.5 times more likely (p