Diagnosis

Most congenital heart defects are diagnosed shortly after birth, but some congenital heart defects are diagnosed during adolescence or later. The diagnostic tests that may be used to determine if a heart defect is present or to evaluate a patient's current status include:

• Cardiac catheterization
• Chest x-ray
• Echocardiogram
• Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)
• Intravascular echocardiography (ICE)
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Position emission tomography scan (PET)
• Transesophageal echocardiogram
• Ultrafast CT