Key Points
- Establish quantitative and qualitative baseline echocardiographic criteria for healthy full-term neonates.
- Evaluated 200 healthy newborns aged 10 to 72 hours and weighing 6 to 10 pounds using a continuous recording technique with a 5 MHz transducer.
- Measured dimensions and velocities of the mitral valve, tricuspid valve, pulmonary artery, aortic root, left atrium, and interventricular septum alongside structural continuity assessments.
- Established standard baseline profiles for cardiac chamber dimensions, great vessel diameters, and atrioventricular valve motion in full-term neonates.
- Identified no correlation between any measured echocardiographic parameter and neonatal weight or body surface area.
Structured PICO
PPopulation200 normal newborn infants ranging from 6 to 10 pounds in weight and from 10 to 72 hours in age.
IInterventionEchocardiography using a continuous recording technique with a 5 MHz transducer
OOutcomeEstablishment of criteria for a normal echocardiographic profile in the full-term neonate (quantitative and qualitative measurements)surrogate
The establishment of normal echocardiographic criteria for full-term newborns facilitates the noninvasive assessment of infants with suspected congenital heart disease.