Congenital Heart Defect News and Research

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A congenital heart defect is a problem with the structure of the heart. It is present at birth. Congenital heart defects are the most common type of major birth defect.

New lab-grown heart valves advance treatments for childhood heart diseases

Melbourne researchers have created human heart valve tissues from stem cells, providing a powerful new platform to advance treatments for childhood heart diseases.

11 Aug 2026

Seven-second X-ray scan detects severe pulmonary valve regurgitation with high accuracy

Researchers at Kyushu University have developed a simple, rapid, and low-radiation X-ray technique that can evaluate the severity of a heart condition known as pulmonary valve regurgitation-a common and clinically significant complication after surgical repair of a congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot.

4 Jun 2026

New method clarifies whether NOTCH1 variants cause congenital heart defects

One to two out of every 100 newborn babies are born with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD), yet the exact cause remains unclear.

26 Feb 2026

AI analyzes ECG to predict ventricular remodeling in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot

Researchers at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Heart Center led a multicenter effort to develop and validate an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can analyze a standard electrocardiogram (ECG) to identify patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot who may be at risk for harmful heart changes typically detected by cardiac MRI.

18 Feb 2026

AI-assisted ultrasounds greatly improve detection of congenital heart defects

Doctors in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Mount Sinai have become the first in New York City to implement an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that enhances ultrasounds on a large scale-resulting in earlier detection and better care for babies and families.

2 Dec 2025

Long COVID poses lasting health risks for young people

Long COVID can result in increased risk for a variety of serious health problems for young people, including those affecting the kidney, gut, and cardiovascular system, according to a group of new studies led by investigators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

21 Apr 2025

Congenital heart defects may be linked to increased cancer risk in babies and mothers

Being born with a heart defect may be associated with an increased cancer risk for babies and their moms, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation.

17 Mar 2025

Unveiling the genetic roots of bicuspid aortic valve

Large and rare duplications and deletions in a chromosome region known as 22q11.2 , which involves genes that regulate cardiac development, are linked to nonsyndromic bicuspid aortic valve disease, according to a new study led by UTHealth Houston researchers.

16 Jan 2025

Pandemic linked to 16% rise in babies born with heart defects

The proportion of babies born with a congenital heart abnormality increased by 16 per cent after the first year of the pandemic, according to research at City St George's, University of London and published today in Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

15 Nov 2024

Study reveals key genetic markers for early onset bicuspid aortic valve complications

Genetic variants linked to a rare form of bicuspid aortic valve disease that affects young adults and can lead to dangerous and potentially life-threatening aortic complications have been identified by researchers at UTHealth Houston.

2 Sep 2024

Research reveals high prevalence of abnormal heart rhythms in adults with congenital heart disease

Almost 1 in 5 adults with congenital heart disease living in Israel had or developed an abnormal heart rhythm/arrhythmia during a five-year study, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

17 Apr 2024

Study finds reduction in mortality rate among children born with Down syndrome and heart defect

Since 1990, the mortality rate for children born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect has more than halved.

17 Jan 2024

Scientists uncover cellular cause of heart defects in babies born to women with diabetes

When women with diabetes become pregnant, they face not only the typical challenges of pregnancy and impending parenthood, but also a scary statistic: they're five times more likely to have a baby with a congenital heart defect.

30 Nov 2023

New heart organoid model could revolutionize drug development and toxicology studies

Heart disease kills 18 million people each year, but the development of new therapies faces a bottleneck: no physiological model of the entire human heart exists – so far.

28 Nov 2023

Biodegradable patch holds promise of correcting congenital heart defects in infants

Using laboratory engineered tissue, scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have created a full thickness, biodegradable patch that holds the promise of correcting congenital heart defects in infants, limiting invasive surgeries and outlasting current patches.

27 Nov 2023

Study sheds light on cause of most common congenital heart defect

Bicuspid aortic valve is the most common congenital defect in humans, affecting between 1% and 2% of the population. Instead of the usual three symmetric leaflets, affected individuals have two asymmetric valve leaflets.

5 Jul 2023

PCCT offers better cardiovascular imaging quality in infants with suspected congenital heart defects

A new advanced form of CT imaging called photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) offers better cardiovascular imaging quality at a similar radiation dose compared to dual-source CT (DSCT) in infants with suspected cardiac heart defects, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America.

23 May 2023

Study: Black infants disproportionately die from necrotizing enterocolitis compared to White babies

A study published in JAMA Network Open has found that in the US between 1999 and 2020, Black infants disproportionately died from necrotizing enterocolitis compared to White infants, despite overall improvements in the rates of death from the disease.

3 Mar 2023

'Stem cell plasters' could revolutionize treatment for children with congenital heart disease

Researchers at the University of Bristol funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have developed 'stem cell plasters' to revolutionize the way surgeons treat children living with congenital heart disease, so they don't need as many open-heart operations.

20 Dec 2022

Administering steroids during heart surgery does not improve post-operative outcomes in infants

The largest clinical trial ever conducted in infants younger than age 1 undergoing heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass found that administering steroids during surgery did not improve post-operative outcomes compared to placebo, according to preliminary late-breaking research to be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2022.

7 Nov 2022