- Congenital heart defects are one of the common and often lethal congenital anomalies, having an estimated incidence of approximately 1% of all live births.
- A screening four-chamber view of the heart could detect only 50 to 60% of cardiac malformations. Visualization of the right and the left ventricular outflow tracts, performed properly increases the sensitivity of detecting defects in the range of approximately 75%.
- Other real-time views (short axis, oblique views, sagittal views) when combined with color-flow mapping, pulsed Doppler, M-mode echocardiography with 3D/4D (STIC) are needed to obtain a complete study for understanding more complex cardiac malformations.
