HANOI, Aug. 24, 2017 (BSS/Xinhua) – Every year between 10,000 and 12,000 babies are born in Vietnam with congenital heart defects, the National Children’s Hospital said on Thursday.
Vietnam has a high rate of congenital heart defect babies mainly due to lack of prenatal ultrasound testing and diagnosis of congenital heart defects in infancy.
Congenital heart defects happen because of incomplete or abnormal development of the fetus’ heart during the very early weeks of pregnancy. If being diagnosed and treated early, some 95 percent of such defect babies can develop normally, said the hospital in Hanoi.
Some 1,200 children with congenital heart defects undergo surgery in the hospital annually.