Unsuspected congenital heart disease in neonates receiving extracorporeal life support: a review of ninety-five cases from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization Registry.

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of patients with congenital heart disease who were given extracorporeal life support (ECLS) for respiratory failure. Underlying congenital heart disease "masked" by respiratory failure occurred in 2%. The most frequent pre-ECLS diagnosis that "masked" congenital heart disease was persistent fetal circulation. Of neonates with a pre-ECLS diagnosis of persistent fetal circulation, congenital heart disease was found in 56 (9%) of 623 patients.