Letter in response to the article entitled “Prognosis of severe congenital heart diseases: Do we overestimate the impact of prenatal diagnosis?” by Vincenti et al.

A “holistic” sonographic view on congenital heart disease: How automatic reconstruction using fetal intelligent navigation echocardiography eases unveiling of abnormal cardiac anatomy part II—Left heart anomalies

“…Indeed, as recent studies have shown, prenatal diagnosis can improve the neurodevelopmental outcomes of newborns with CHDs (eg, transposition of the great arteries). 85,86 Thakur and colleagues demonstrated that a prenatal diagnosis of a critical CHD in their study was associated with a significantly shorter time interval from birth to neonatal admission and the absence of life-threatening or fatal preoperative cardiac events. 87 Even in aneuploidy syndromes, timely prenatal diagnosis of CHDs and appropriate follow-up into adulthood have been shown to improve outcomes in these complex and multisystem conditions.…”

“…In this regard, as data from the EPICARD study imply, postnatal survival may no longer be the most relevant outcome criterion for evaluating the impact of a prenatal diagnosis of a CHD. Indeed, as recent studies have shown, prenatal diagnosis can improve the neurodevelopmental outcomes of newborns with CHDs (eg, transposition of the great arteries) 85,86 . Thakur and colleagues demonstrated that a prenatal diagnosis of a critical CHD in their study was associated with a significantly shorter time interval from birth to neonatal admission and the absence of life‐threatening or fatal preoperative cardiac events 87 .…”