WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Testing for newborn congenital heart defects

Los Angeles, California - August 22, 2011

Congenital heart defects are relatively common in newborns and in some cases can be deadly. There is a simple, inexpensive test that can detect some of these defects and potentially save thousands of lives, but it's not routinely done in the United States. Now new recommendations are out to change that.

Just hours after giving birth to baby Alex, Jodi Koravos found out something was seriously wrong. "One of the nurses was getting ready to bring him back to our room and she noticed his fingernails were turning blue," she said.

Alex's body was not getting enough oxygen. A painless, inexpensive test called a pulse oximetry -- or pulse ox -- helped reveal that he had a congenital heart defect.

"In that one instant everything changed," Koravos said.

In Alex's case, a nurse noticed something was off, but often times there are no warning signs. That's why a federal advisory panel is recommending hospitals perform pulse ox screenings on all newborns.

"It's particularly important to identify these babies with critical congenital heart defects because if we don't they can go home from the nursery and very rapidly die," said Dr. Alex Kemper with Duke University and the lead author of the study.

About one in every 120 babies are born with congenital heart disease. in 25-percent of those cases, the defects can be life-threatening. Pulse oximetry measures the amount of oxygen in the blood, using a sensor taped to a newborn's foot. Alex's oxygen level was so low, he had to undergo emergency heart surgery.

Now he acts like a normal 2-month old. "If it weren't for the giant scar in the middle of his chest, you wouldn't know there was a problem with him," Koravos said.

But his road to recovery isn't over. The little guy still has two more surgeries ahead of him.

Kendis Gibson - CBS News

More on screening newborns for congenital heart defects --www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/22/health/webmd/main20095275.shtml