Pulse oximetry screening of critical congenital heart defects in the neonatal period. The Spanish National Neonatal Society recommendation

Abstract Due to its severity, as well as the consequences of a late diagnosis, critical congenital heart defects (CCHD) represent a challenging situation, making an early diagnosis necessary and ideally before symptoms appear when circulatory collapse or death of the newborn can occur. Due to this, a prenatal and very early postnatal diagnosis is very important. Prenatal ultrasound screening and physical examination of the newborn can miss a considerable number of CCHD cases. Pulse oximetry screening has been demonstrated to be an effective, non-invasive, inexpensive, and well accepted tool in the early diagnosis of CCHD. The Spanish National Society of Neonatology, through its Standards Committee, and based on the current evidence, recommend the implementation of pulse oximetry screening of CCHD in Spain, and then to offer the best therapy possible to these newborn infants.