Huda Khaleel

King Saud Medical City, Saudi Arabia

Title: The Universal Screening Program For Cchd Using Pulse Oximetry

Biography

Huda Khaleel is a Consultant Pediatrician and Pediatric Cardiologist at the Heart Health Center, King Saud Medical City (KSMC), specializing in fetal cardiology. She currently serves as Deputy Head of the Pediatric Cardiology Department and Chair of Education for Residents and Fellows. With over 20 years of experience, Khaleel has led numerous national and institutional initiatives, including Saudi Arabia’s Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) screening program.

She is actively involved in clinical research, ethics, and academic committees and collaborates on multidisciplinary care programs. Dr. Khaleel is a member of several local and international cardiology societies and has published extensively on congenital heart disease, neonatal screening, and pediatric cardiac care.

Abstract

Critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) has been defined as structural heart    defects  that are usually associated with hypoxia in the newborn period and have potential for  significant  morbidity and mortality early in life. CCHD has been estimated to be present in ?3 in 1000 live  births, including Saudi Arabia.Pulse Oximetry Screening (POS) is a highly specific and moderately  sensitive test for detecting CCHD with very low false?positive rates.The Kingdom of Saudi million and more than 600,000  annual live births. In 2015, the Universal Screening Program for CCHD using Pulse Oximetry was  approved in Saudi Arabia. It is expected that any new national program will undergo a learning  curve and face many challenges. We believe that developing countries may face different challenges  during implementation of such national projects, but the success achieved by Saudi Arabia in  implementing the program was mainly due to good preparation before launching the project and  advancements in the use of the technology involved in this project. Since starting the universal  CCHD screening in 2016, more than 900,000 babies have been screened in Saudi Arabia and many  lives have been saved using this safe, non?invasive, inexpensive, and reasonably sensitive test.