Aim To compare in‐hospital mortality and rates of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), sepsis, IVH and length of invasive respiratory support in preterm infants <36 weeks’ gestation with congenital heart disease (CHD) to matched preterm infants without CHD in a single London centre over 13‐year period. Methods Single‐centre retrospective case‐control study over the 13‐year period from May 2004 to May 2017. Results Two hundred forty‐seven preterm infants with CHD were matched to 494 infants without CHD. Patients with CHD had a significantly increased risk of in‐hospital mortality compared to controls (OR 7.39 (95% CI 4.37–12.5); p < 0.001). Preterm infants with CHD had a higher risk of NEC (OR 2.42 (95% CI 1.32–4.45); p = 0.005), sepsis (OR 1.68 (95% CI 1.23–2.28); p = 0.001) and invasive respiratory support ≥28 days (OR 2.34 (95% CI 1.19–4.58); p = 0.017). Risk of IVH was lower in preterm infants with CHD (OR 0.22 (95% CI 0.11–0.42); p = 0.0001). Conclusion Preterm birth with CHD is associated with a higher risk of in‐hospital mortality, NEC, sepsis and prolonged invasive respiratory support, but a lower risk of IVH compared to matched controls. In‐hospital mortality remains high in moderate‐to‐late preterm infants with CHD.

Introduction Prenatal recognition of dilated aortic root is extremely rare and there are significant challenges in counselling these patients. The primary aim of this case series is to describe the prevalence, associations and outcome of dilated ascending aorta diagnosed during fetal life. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study from two tertiary fetal cardiology centres. Dilated ascending aorta was defined as gestation‐specific standard deviation > 1.96 at some point during gestation. Results Sixteen infants were live born and underwent postnatal echocardiography. Prenatally suspected bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) (n = 6) was confirmed in 5 cases (83%) postnatally. Thirteen children have been followed up for a period of minimum one year. No connective tissue disease was found. Conclusions Prenatal dilated ascending aorta is a rare finding (0.06%). It is associated with BAV in 37% of cases and extracardiac abnormalities in 15.7%. Nuchal translucency measurement was >3.5 in 13% of cases. Connective tissue disease was not diagnosed postnatally. This is the largest prenatal cohort with dilated ascending aorta and postnatal outcomes to date. We showed a postnatal persistence of ascending aortic dilatation in 43% of babies. In the absence of extra‐cardiac abnormalities, medium term outcome appears good but postnatal surveillance of aortic dilation is required.