Story first appeared in the Herald Tribune.
Infants born at the Women’s Center at Lakewood Ranch have a new line of defense against heart defects that can be linked to SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Parents now have the option to have a Pulse Oximetry, or “Pulse-Ox” test conducted on their newborn after the baby reaches 24 hours of life. The Pulse-Ox test identifies lower levels of oxygen which can be a sign of a congenital heart defect that is undetectable prior to the infant reaching 24 hours of life.
The Lakewood Ranch Medical Center Director of Inpatient Services said that this test will serve as an additional line of defense for newborns adapting to life outside of the womb. This way they can receive immediate medical intervention that can potentially save their lives.
The Pulse Oximetry test is conducted by placing a sticky strip, called a Pediatric Pulse Oximeter on the newborn baby’s hand or foot. The strip has a red flashing probe that measures oxygen levels in the baby’s blood.
The Pulse-Ox test compliments the array of services at the Women’s Center at Lakewood Ranch. The hospital features a NICU trained nursing staff, a full service nursery and around-the-clock neonatology services.
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Showing posts with label congenital heart defect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label congenital heart defect. Show all posts
07 May 2012
International Rotary Helps Kids with Heart Defects
Story first appeared in The Kennebec Journal.
Two mothers from the Dominican Republic arrived at Portland's Ronald McDonald House on Tuesday morning, each carrying a baby girl who was born with a heart defect. Their daughters are scheduled to have surgery in about a week to fix a rare condition called tetralogy of fallot.
The operations at The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center were arranged by Gift of Life, an international Rotary-affiliated program that connects children who have heart defects to the medical services they need.
Congenital heart defects can typically be recognized and diagnosed within days of birth, using Pediatric Pulse Oximeters.
Since 1974, more than 10,000 children have benefited from the program worldwide, none of them in Maine.
Tuesday's trip for the girls and their mothers, began with a 3 a.m. flight from the Dominican Republic. The arrangements were two years in the making.
The effort started when a member of the Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Club, attended a Rotary convention in Portsmouth, N.H., in 2010 and heard Gift of Life's first patient speak.
The member, whose grandchild died during surgery several years ago, was moved to bring the program to Maine. He approached Maine Medical Center in the fall, and the hospital agreed to participate.
Working with the New England chapter of Gift of Life, he was connected to the mothers, whose families met for the first time a few weeks ago in the Dominican Republic.
Soon after arriving in Portland on Tuesday, the mothers sat in the dining room at the Ronald McDonald House on Carleton Street, where they will stay while their daughters are in the hospital. They held the girls in their laps. The women spoke in Spanish through an interpreter. They were scared, they said, but excited.
Children born with tetralogy of fallot usually die by the age of 20, says the U.S. National Library of Medicine, but the success rate of the surgery is high.
The typical case includes a hole between the heart's left and right ventricles, a narrowing of the valve and artery that connect the heart with the lungs, a shifted aorta and a thickened wall of the right ventricle. This defect is likely to be located and diagnosed very early on in an infant's life if the proper tests are given using Pediatric Pulse Oximeters.
The defect causes low oxygen levels, which can lead to seizures and impede development.
Maine Medical Center has operated on 17 patients with tetralogy of fallot in the past year said a hospital spokesman. The hospital is waiving the medical costs for these young patients. Maine Medical Center provided more than $18.2 million worth of charity care last year, a small portion of which went to international patients.
American Airlines donated airfare for the mothers and daughters. So far, he has collected about $4,000 in donations, mostly from local Rotary clubs. He plans to raise another $6,000 to cover the cost of their stay, which could be a month or more, depending on how the girls recover from surgery.
For more healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Two mothers from the Dominican Republic arrived at Portland's Ronald McDonald House on Tuesday morning, each carrying a baby girl who was born with a heart defect. Their daughters are scheduled to have surgery in about a week to fix a rare condition called tetralogy of fallot.
The operations at The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center were arranged by Gift of Life, an international Rotary-affiliated program that connects children who have heart defects to the medical services they need.
Congenital heart defects can typically be recognized and diagnosed within days of birth, using Pediatric Pulse Oximeters.
Since 1974, more than 10,000 children have benefited from the program worldwide, none of them in Maine.
Tuesday's trip for the girls and their mothers, began with a 3 a.m. flight from the Dominican Republic. The arrangements were two years in the making.
The effort started when a member of the Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Club, attended a Rotary convention in Portsmouth, N.H., in 2010 and heard Gift of Life's first patient speak.
The member, whose grandchild died during surgery several years ago, was moved to bring the program to Maine. He approached Maine Medical Center in the fall, and the hospital agreed to participate.
Working with the New England chapter of Gift of Life, he was connected to the mothers, whose families met for the first time a few weeks ago in the Dominican Republic.
Soon after arriving in Portland on Tuesday, the mothers sat in the dining room at the Ronald McDonald House on Carleton Street, where they will stay while their daughters are in the hospital. They held the girls in their laps. The women spoke in Spanish through an interpreter. They were scared, they said, but excited.
Children born with tetralogy of fallot usually die by the age of 20, says the U.S. National Library of Medicine, but the success rate of the surgery is high.
The typical case includes a hole between the heart's left and right ventricles, a narrowing of the valve and artery that connect the heart with the lungs, a shifted aorta and a thickened wall of the right ventricle. This defect is likely to be located and diagnosed very early on in an infant's life if the proper tests are given using Pediatric Pulse Oximeters.
The defect causes low oxygen levels, which can lead to seizures and impede development.
Maine Medical Center has operated on 17 patients with tetralogy of fallot in the past year said a hospital spokesman. The hospital is waiving the medical costs for these young patients. Maine Medical Center provided more than $18.2 million worth of charity care last year, a small portion of which went to international patients.
American Airlines donated airfare for the mothers and daughters. So far, he has collected about $4,000 in donations, mostly from local Rotary clubs. He plans to raise another $6,000 to cover the cost of their stay, which could be a month or more, depending on how the girls recover from surgery.
For more healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
02 May 2012
Pulse Oximetry Screens for Congenital Heart Defects
Story first appeared on medpagetoday.com.
Pediatric Pulse Oximeters are a fairly accurate way to screen newborns for critical congenital heart defects, a meta-analysis determined.
The blood oxygenation sensor detected such defects with 76.5% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity, which compares favorably with other methods of detection such as antenatal ultrasound and routine physical exam.
The false-positive rate was low at just 0.14% across the pooled results reported online in The Lancet.
Those findings suggest newborn pulse oximetry meets criteria for universal screening, the researchers concluded. It has already been adopted into the recommended uniform newborn screening panel in the United States, though other countries have yet to follow.
Pulse oximetry itself isn't the issue, as the Pediatric Pulse Oximeter devices are widely available, testing is noninvasive and easy, and the cost per screen is low. Guaranteeing follow-up after a positive screen will be the biggest barrier to adoption of screening. Many hospitals do not have access to pediatric echocardiography, which is needed for newborn babies with a positive screen not attributable to another cause.
Anecdotal reports from New Jersey, which became the first state to implement pulse oximetry into state-wide newborn screening in mid-2011, suggest that those issues haven't been overly problematic and point to at least two unexpected defects being found.
It is expected that the debate about whether pulse oximetry screening should be part of newborn screening or clinical care to continue until we have better ways to assess explicitly the economic and health outcomes of each approach.
The meta-analysis tackled one aspect of that uncertainty through pooling accuracy results from 13 eligible studies with a total of 229,421 asymptomatic newborn babies.
Pulse oximetry done within 24 hours of birth, which was the case in six of the studies, didn't impact sensitivity for screening (P=0.36).
But it did affect the false-positive rate, which was especially low when done more than 24 hours after birth at 0.05%, compared with 0.50% when done sooner after delivery (P=0.0017).
That low rate would be important in keeping down costs for assessing test-positive infants, the researchers pointed out. This finding should be balanced against the increasing tendency of many countries to discharge babies early (between 6 and 24 hours), and the risk of infants with serious disorders deteriorating before screening has been done.
The site where oxygen saturation was measured didn't appear to make a difference in sensitivity either, comparing results in the 60% of studies that used the foot alone versus those of the rest testing both the right hand and foot (P=0.22).
False-positive rates also did not differ significantly by probe positioning (P=0.66).
Most studies excluded newborns with antenatal suspicion of congenital heart defects, but those that included them had higher false-positive rates (P<0.0001) without much boost in sensitivity of pulse oximetry (P=0.18).
For more healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Pediatric Pulse Oximeters are a fairly accurate way to screen newborns for critical congenital heart defects, a meta-analysis determined.
The blood oxygenation sensor detected such defects with 76.5% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity, which compares favorably with other methods of detection such as antenatal ultrasound and routine physical exam.
The false-positive rate was low at just 0.14% across the pooled results reported online in The Lancet.
Those findings suggest newborn pulse oximetry meets criteria for universal screening, the researchers concluded. It has already been adopted into the recommended uniform newborn screening panel in the United States, though other countries have yet to follow.
Pulse oximetry itself isn't the issue, as the Pediatric Pulse Oximeter devices are widely available, testing is noninvasive and easy, and the cost per screen is low. Guaranteeing follow-up after a positive screen will be the biggest barrier to adoption of screening. Many hospitals do not have access to pediatric echocardiography, which is needed for newborn babies with a positive screen not attributable to another cause.
Anecdotal reports from New Jersey, which became the first state to implement pulse oximetry into state-wide newborn screening in mid-2011, suggest that those issues haven't been overly problematic and point to at least two unexpected defects being found.
It is expected that the debate about whether pulse oximetry screening should be part of newborn screening or clinical care to continue until we have better ways to assess explicitly the economic and health outcomes of each approach.
The meta-analysis tackled one aspect of that uncertainty through pooling accuracy results from 13 eligible studies with a total of 229,421 asymptomatic newborn babies.
Pulse oximetry done within 24 hours of birth, which was the case in six of the studies, didn't impact sensitivity for screening (P=0.36).
But it did affect the false-positive rate, which was especially low when done more than 24 hours after birth at 0.05%, compared with 0.50% when done sooner after delivery (P=0.0017).
That low rate would be important in keeping down costs for assessing test-positive infants, the researchers pointed out. This finding should be balanced against the increasing tendency of many countries to discharge babies early (between 6 and 24 hours), and the risk of infants with serious disorders deteriorating before screening has been done.
The site where oxygen saturation was measured didn't appear to make a difference in sensitivity either, comparing results in the 60% of studies that used the foot alone versus those of the rest testing both the right hand and foot (P=0.22).
False-positive rates also did not differ significantly by probe positioning (P=0.66).
Most studies excluded newborns with antenatal suspicion of congenital heart defects, but those that included them had higher false-positive rates (P<0.0001) without much boost in sensitivity of pulse oximetry (P=0.18).
For more healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
19 April 2012
Simple Test for Babies to Determine Heart Problems
Story first appeared in the Detroit Free Press.
It's a simple test, but it can make a life or death difference for newborns with a previously undiscovered heart defect. Pulse oximetry in infants -- a variation of the finger-clip test many Americans get to determine whether the heart is pumping blood effectively -- is being added in U.S. hospitals -- including a dozen in Michigan -- as a common newborn screening tool.
There's also a push here and in other states to pass laws, as Indiana and Maryland have, to require the test, according to a support group, PulseOx Advocacy, which tracks the issue on its website.
A lot of newborns can be discharged without knowing they have significant problems with the heart. Each year, between 4 and 10 out of every 1,000 children born in the United States will have a congenital heart defect. Of those, more than 1,500 won't live to have a first birthday, according to the American Heart Association.
Fortunately, detection tools have improved so much that many of the problems are found by fetal ultrasound tests during pregnancy or during exams by pediatricians after birth. For those that are not found prior to birth, pediatric pulse oximeters make the difference.
One baby of 14,017 tested at the University of Michigan between 2006 and 2010 was diagnosed through pulse oximetry testing with a heart problem that otherwise would have gone undetected.
U-M has routinely offered the newborn screening since 2003 because it saw a benefit to the tests and, as a teaching hospital, had pediatric cardiologists readily on staff. Michigan doctors are working with the Michigan Department of Community Health to create a statewide system so that babies born at hospitals without pediatric cardiologists get the right, immediate follow-up if they flunk a pulse oximetry test showing that their hearts don't pump oxygen effectively.
In a smaller community hospital, we need to make sure cardiologists are available to see patients.
Most of the 60 Michigan hospitals that deliver babies have fewer than 1,000 births a year and of those, half have fewer than 500 births -- places unlikely to have pediatric cardiologists on staff.
Michigan applied for a $300,000 federal grant to gather statistics about the screening and follow-up tests and treatment.
The project also will look at whether there are more inaccurate readings -- usually suggesting a problem that isn't there -- if the pulse oximetry test is performed after the first day of life, as is done in England without big problems.
2-minute test
Over the past few months -- and as recently as last week -- metro Detroit hospitals adding the test include Hutzel Hospital, Detroit; St. John Providence, Southfield, and St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, Pontiac, according to doctors and hospital spokespersons.
Others expect to start soon, including the Oakwood Healthcare system in Dearborn, St. Mary of Livonia and Beaumont Health System based in Royal Oak, spokespersons said.
Pulse oximetry is best at finding heart defects that result from poor oxygen circulation in the blood. It's usually performed 24 hours after a baby is born -- while most infants still are in the hospital. If the test picks up something suspicious, it often is repeated once or twice within the next few hours.
It's recommended that babies discharged before 24 hours after birth get the test within a few days at their pediatrician's office.
The tests take about two minutes. Sensors are attached with tape to a baby's hand and foot. St. John Hospital spent $16,900 to buy new motion-resistant machines for its labor and delivery unit.
Proponents hope to get the Michigan Lt. Governor to help push for mandatory testing. His then-15-month-old daughter underwent open-heart surgery last May for a congenital heart defect.
The Lt. Governor who has another child with autism, played a similar role recently in the passage of legislation to require insurance coverage for autism care.
For now, the Michigan Governor's office said it will review any legislative proposals and is working with hospitals to develop a coordinated system.
Push for a testing law
Several local groups, including Hearts of Hope, support a state testing law involving pediatric pulse oximeters.
A Royal Oak woman's son, now 3 1/2, was born with a hole in his heart and a narrowing of a key valve and artery. The condition left him too weak to breastfeed. After he lost a pound of his birth weight and continued having nursing problems, she brought him to his pediatrician, who recommended he see a pediatric cardiologist.
When the diagnosis came, it was like the air shifted in the room.
He had heart surgery when he was just 9 months old. Today, he's doing fine, loves his gymnastics class and calls his younger brother his best friend. His long chest scar is nearly gone and he has stretched his follow-up appointments with a Beaumont pediatric cardiologist to every two years.
For more healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
It's a simple test, but it can make a life or death difference for newborns with a previously undiscovered heart defect. Pulse oximetry in infants -- a variation of the finger-clip test many Americans get to determine whether the heart is pumping blood effectively -- is being added in U.S. hospitals -- including a dozen in Michigan -- as a common newborn screening tool.
There's also a push here and in other states to pass laws, as Indiana and Maryland have, to require the test, according to a support group, PulseOx Advocacy, which tracks the issue on its website.
A lot of newborns can be discharged without knowing they have significant problems with the heart. Each year, between 4 and 10 out of every 1,000 children born in the United States will have a congenital heart defect. Of those, more than 1,500 won't live to have a first birthday, according to the American Heart Association.
Fortunately, detection tools have improved so much that many of the problems are found by fetal ultrasound tests during pregnancy or during exams by pediatricians after birth. For those that are not found prior to birth, pediatric pulse oximeters make the difference.
One baby of 14,017 tested at the University of Michigan between 2006 and 2010 was diagnosed through pulse oximetry testing with a heart problem that otherwise would have gone undetected.
U-M has routinely offered the newborn screening since 2003 because it saw a benefit to the tests and, as a teaching hospital, had pediatric cardiologists readily on staff. Michigan doctors are working with the Michigan Department of Community Health to create a statewide system so that babies born at hospitals without pediatric cardiologists get the right, immediate follow-up if they flunk a pulse oximetry test showing that their hearts don't pump oxygen effectively.
In a smaller community hospital, we need to make sure cardiologists are available to see patients.
Most of the 60 Michigan hospitals that deliver babies have fewer than 1,000 births a year and of those, half have fewer than 500 births -- places unlikely to have pediatric cardiologists on staff.
Michigan applied for a $300,000 federal grant to gather statistics about the screening and follow-up tests and treatment.
The project also will look at whether there are more inaccurate readings -- usually suggesting a problem that isn't there -- if the pulse oximetry test is performed after the first day of life, as is done in England without big problems.
2-minute test
Over the past few months -- and as recently as last week -- metro Detroit hospitals adding the test include Hutzel Hospital, Detroit; St. John Providence, Southfield, and St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, Pontiac, according to doctors and hospital spokespersons.
Others expect to start soon, including the Oakwood Healthcare system in Dearborn, St. Mary of Livonia and Beaumont Health System based in Royal Oak, spokespersons said.
Pulse oximetry is best at finding heart defects that result from poor oxygen circulation in the blood. It's usually performed 24 hours after a baby is born -- while most infants still are in the hospital. If the test picks up something suspicious, it often is repeated once or twice within the next few hours.
It's recommended that babies discharged before 24 hours after birth get the test within a few days at their pediatrician's office.
The tests take about two minutes. Sensors are attached with tape to a baby's hand and foot. St. John Hospital spent $16,900 to buy new motion-resistant machines for its labor and delivery unit.
Proponents hope to get the Michigan Lt. Governor to help push for mandatory testing. His then-15-month-old daughter underwent open-heart surgery last May for a congenital heart defect.
The Lt. Governor who has another child with autism, played a similar role recently in the passage of legislation to require insurance coverage for autism care.
For now, the Michigan Governor's office said it will review any legislative proposals and is working with hospitals to develop a coordinated system.
Push for a testing law
Several local groups, including Hearts of Hope, support a state testing law involving pediatric pulse oximeters.
A Royal Oak woman's son, now 3 1/2, was born with a hole in his heart and a narrowing of a key valve and artery. The condition left him too weak to breastfeed. After he lost a pound of his birth weight and continued having nursing problems, she brought him to his pediatrician, who recommended he see a pediatric cardiologist.
When the diagnosis came, it was like the air shifted in the room.
He had heart surgery when he was just 9 months old. Today, he's doing fine, loves his gymnastics class and calls his younger brother his best friend. His long chest scar is nearly gone and he has stretched his follow-up appointments with a Beaumont pediatric cardiologist to every two years.
For more healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
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