Genetic evaluation of newborns with critical congenital heart defects admitted to the intensive care unit

Rapid and efficient diagnostics is crucial for newborns with congenital heart defects (CHD) in intensive care unit (ICU) but is often challenging. Given that genetic factors play a role in 20–30% cases of CHD, it is likely that genetic tests could improve both its speed and efficiency. We aimed to analyze the utility of rapid and cost-effective multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification analysis (MLPA) for chromosomal analysis in newborns with critical CHD. One hundred consecutive newborns admitted with critical CHD to the ICU were included in the study. Those with normal MLPA findings were further tested by chromosomal microarray and clinical exome sequencing. Overall, pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants were determined in ten (10%) newborns by MLPA, three (3%) by chromosomal microarray, and three (3%) by clinical exome sequencing. The most common variant detected was deletion of 22q11.2 region. Conclusion: MLPA is fast and cost-effective analysis that could be used as the first-tier test in newborns with critical CHD admitted to the ICU.