Many babies born very early have an open blood vessel near the heart, called a patent ductus arteriosus, and doctors sometimes give medicine to close it. A Canadian study of 1356 babies born before 29 weeks found that four common treatment options (three medicines, one of them given at two doses)…

Many babies born extremely early have an open blood vessel near the heart, and doctors have long debated whether medicine to close it early helps. A small 2026 trial in babies born before 26 weeks used repeated heart scans to give medicine only to babies with a large blood flow; it showed a bigger…

Many babies born very early have a small blood vessel near the heart, called the ductus arteriosus, that has not closed yet. Doctors do not fully agree on when to treat it, so a research team asked children's hospital newborn units to share their written plans. The plans share a general approach…

When a pregnancy scan suggests that a baby's main artery may be narrowed, families are often asked to prepare for heart surgery after birth. Yet in the largest series published in 2025 and 2026, about two thirds of those babies were born with a normal artery. Four new studies examine why this…

Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection is a rare heart difference in which the veins carrying oxygen-rich blood back from the lungs join the wrong side of the heart. Surgery can repair it, but babies do far better when it is found on an ultrasound scan before birth — and it is one of the…

Transposition of the great arteries is a heart condition present at birth in which the two main arteries leaving the heart are connected the wrong way round. Surgery to correct it is now very successful, and most children grow up well. Four recent studies look at the part that is still hard: the…

In a small number of pregnancies, antibodies made by the mother's immune system cross the placenta and damage the part of the baby's heart that sets its rhythm, leaving the heartbeat permanently slow. Four studies published in 2025 and 2026 looked at who is most at risk, what these babies are like…

Sometimes a routine pregnancy scan finds that the baby's heart is beating far too fast — twice the normal rate or more. Doctors can treat this before birth by giving the mother medicine that crosses the placenta and reaches the baby. Three studies published in 2025 and 2026 help answer the…

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome means a baby is born with the left side of the heart too small to pump blood around the body. Four recent studies examine the decisions made in the first days of life — whether to open a wall inside the heart before birth, which day to operate, and what to do for the…

When a baby is born with a hole in the diaphragm, the heart is squeezed as well as the lungs. Three studies published in 2026 used bedside ultrasound to follow how the heart works before and after the operation that closes the gap. Together they show that the right side of the heart recovers…

Babies born too early sometimes develop high blood pressure in newborn intensive care, and doctors treat it — but no guideline says which medicine to use. Two 2025 studies fill in opposite ends of the picture: one found a large American hospital reached for the same drug about 61% of the time, out…

Many premature babies are born with a tiny blood vessel near the heart that is supposed to close on its own in the first days of life but sometimes stays open. When it does, doctors often use one of two familiar medicines — paracetamol (also called acetaminophen) or ibuprofen — to help it close. A…