Antenatal Diagnosis

Evidence suggests that antenatal diagnosis of major congenital heart disease improves outcomes, particularly from the point of view of serious morbidity such as brain damage. For the purposes of comparative audit of antenatal diagnosis we have chosen to analyse data only for babies who require surgery or therapeutic catheterisation during the first year of life, excluding those with patent ductus or atrial septal defect as these conditions are not normally diagnosed antenatally.

The CCAD dataset contains only one simple piece of information concerning antenatal diagnosis – whether the heart abnormality was detected antenatally or not.

Data quality
We present data on the percentage of patients being treated in each cardiac centre with this data field properly completed, as an indicator of local data quality. Results are shown over a 5 year period to illustrate improvement in performance.

Quality of antenatal diagnosis
The quality of antenatal diagnosis relies largely on the effectiveness of fetal anomaly screening in obstetric units rather than the accuracy of diagnosis in the specialist cardiac centres. For this reason we have chosen to present antenatal diagnosis data for each of the ten English Strategic Health Authorities and their equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Where individual centres have returned small quantities of data (less than 20 cases) for individual years that data has been omitted from the graph and will be added when the full year’s data submission is completed. Further analysis according to Primary Care Trust in England is planned in the near future.

Data quality for antenatal diagnosis by tertiary cardiac centre (% of cases where antenatal diagnosis field has been completed)


Percentage of infants who required treatment who were antenatally diagnosed - by Health Board/Special Health Authority

Average 2004-2008

Entry criteria
• Age 0-1 at time of procedure
• Financial years 2004-8
• Excluding procedures:
– ASD closure
– PDA closure		Most Recently Available Year

Entry criteria
• Age 0-1 at time of procedure
• Most recently available financial years (usually 2008, see data quality chart above)
• Excluding procedures:
– ASD closure
– PDA closure


Funnel plot showing average percentage of cases where antenatal diagnosis has been made for children needing treatment in the first year of life, 2004-8

Average 2004-2008
Most recently available year

Percentage of infants who required treatment who were antenatally diagnosed, analysed by year and by SHA/Country



Percentage of infants requiring treatment for CHD (excluding PDA and ASD) in the first year of life who were diagnosed antenatally - by Primary Care Trust/Local Health Board

Average April 2004 - March 2009

Entry criteria
• Age 0-1 at time of procedure
• Financial years 2004-8
• Excluding procedures:
– ASD closure
– PDA closure
Associate Logos Central Cardiac Audit Database Healthcare Commisson Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery British Congenital Cardiac Association British Cardiovasculer Society

Design & Technology by CCAD