Congenital Heart Defects

The heart is an intricate organ made up of many parts, making open heart surgery a common option when something goes wrong.

Congenital heart defects are the most common kind of birth defect among children born in the United States, affecting nearly one percent of all newborns in the country. There are multiple kinds of heart defect, classified according to the location of the problem within the heart as well as what, specifically, is wrong. The types of heart defect include:

Complete atrioventricular canal defect, a failure of the walls separating the chambers to meet and fully close. This means blood entering the lungs mixes with blood that s to circulate to the rest of the body, causing improper oxygen distribution.

Truncus arteriosus, in which the blood vessels leading in from the lungs and out to the body are fused together, when they are supposed to be separate. This condition also interferes with proper circulation of the blood through the body.

Ebstein’s anomaly, in which the heart valve on the left side cannot fully close.

Tetralogy of Fallot, the co-occurrence of four different malformations. These are a hole between the heart’s lower chambers, the aorta right above this hole and connected to both chambers rather than only the left, a blockage in the link between the heart and the lungs, and a thickening of the wall of the right chamber.

Pulmonary valve stenosis, in which the heart valve doesn’t open all the way and blood sometimes flows back out.

Atrial septal defect, a hole in the wall separating the heart’s upper chambers.

Coarctation of the aorta, a narrowing of the artery that carries blood out of the heart. This can can lead to high blood pressure, which is dangerous in infants.

It is often important that heart defects in newborns and infants be treated, usually with surgery. Because these defects are typically diagnosed so young—symptoms are frequently apparent early on, such as the tetralogy of Fallot, which can result in blue skin—and because infants born with heart defects may have other illnesses as well, there might be limits on the types of surgery that can be performed. In some cases, however, it is possible to leave the defect as is, at least temporarily, and it is sometimes possible for children born with heart defects to grow up quite healthy regardless.

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