Congenital heart defects
Disease Information
Tests
Congenital heart defects are often first detected when your doctor hears an abnormal heart sound or heart murmur when listening to your baby’s heart.
Depending on the type of murmur your doctor hears, he or she may order further testing such as:
- echocardiogram
- cardiac catheterization
- chest x-ray
- MRI
- blood tests/ chromosome analysis
At Children’s, if your doctor suspects your child has some type of genetic syndrome, we may ask a clinical geneticist to evaluate your child.
If your child has been diagnosed with a chromosomal or other genetic abnormality, genetic counseling is helpful to determine the risk of heart defects occurring in any other children you may have in the future.
| The Experience Journal |
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Designed by Children’s psychiatrist-in-chief David DeMaso, MD and members of his team, the Experience Journal is an online collection of thoughts, reflections and advice from kids, parents and other caregivers about being overweight. |
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Related Conditions and Treatments:
Raising awareness of congenital heart defects
We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate National Heart Month than by giving our readers a brief update about Parker Bolton, a Children’s Hospital Boston patient born with a congenital heart defect (CHD), called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).
Clinical Services
