Tests for early detection of some diseases for babies

The article was professionally consulted by MSc Nguyen Cong Canh, Head of Pediatrics - Neonatology Department, Vinmec International General Hospital Da Nang.

Newborn screening test helps to detect diseases early in the first days of birth and has timely treatment to reduce neonatal mortality rate, reduce rate of mental and physical retardation , reducing the burden on family and society.

Newborn screening detects dangers to the baby as soon as he is born
Newborn screening is a program that performs a number of tests on newborns to detect endocrine diseases and metabolic disorders early effects on the health and physical and mental development of children. These conditions are often difficult to detect clinically at birth, so screening tests are needed to detect them. Some diseases such as congenital hypothyroidism, if detected early and treated within 2 weeks after birth, the baby will recover and develop completely normally both physically and mentally.

Currently, with the development of society, people's intellectual level and social needs are increasing, so the need to improve the quality of the population is a matter of concern for all countries in the world. Each baby born must ensure healthy development both physically and mentally, is the happiness of families and is the foundation for the development of the country.
Newborn screening test helps to detect diseases early in the first days of birth and has timely treatment to reduce neonatal mortality rate, reduce rate of mental and physical retardation , reducing the burden on family and society.

Heel blood test to screen for congenital hypothyroidism:
Venous blood test: allows screening test for hypothyroidism, G6PD deficiency, congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Most of the major hospitals in Vietnam are applying the technique of testing venous blood. Neonatal heel blood collection: allows TSH testing to screen for congenital hypothyroidism. The method is to take 1 drop of blood from the child's heel, soak it in a special paper, then put it back into a reagent, process and measure it on a semi-automatic machine (ELISA). This test technique has been deployed since the 2000s. However, the level of accuracy when testing with heel blood is not equal to venous blood tests on current generations of machines and only allows screening for hypothyroidism. natural.

The best time to have a blood drawn as a newborn screening test for a baby is between 3 and 7 days old. Newborn screening tests performed at Vinmec hospital can perform screening for early detection of 3 neonatal diseases (congenital hypothyroidism, G6PD enzyme deficiency, congenital adrenal hyperplasia). The best time to have blood drawn for a newborn screening test is between 3 and 7 days old.
At Vinmec, the technique of taking blood from the heel is not applied (because the technique of taking blood from the heel can only screen for hypothyroidism; and the hospital's testing system follows a different, more modern and accurate method). The baby will have venous blood drawn for testing on days 3-7 after birth. This newborn screening test is applied to cases when, through clinical examination, the doctor finds signs suggestive of or finds risk factors related to the three diseases mentioned above, or when the family wishes to do so, screening test.