Prenatal diagnosis of congenital cardiac malformation: Criteria

With new techniques of fetal electrocardiography, it is possible to make prenatal determination of the existence of congenital cardiac malformation in the unborn heart. Complete heart block, and coarctation of the aorta, have been shown. A set of criteria is proposed on the basis of which such prenatal diagnoses can be made. Another proposal is to classify congenital cardiac malformation on the basis of the epoch of origin, in view of the capability of fetal cardiac electrical studies, thus opening exciting new possibilities in heart disease research.