Congenital Heart Disease

One of the most common surgeries performed on babies is called Esophageal Atresia/Tracheoesophageal Fistula. That is just the medical term for when a baby is born with a defect in their esophagus and trachea and needs to have it repaired. About 90% of babies are born with this condition. It occurs in 1 in 3,000 to 5,000 newborns. The good thing is that since it happens so frequently, the survival rate is almost 100%. The most rarest condition is ectopia cordis. That is when a baby is born with their heart outside of their chest. Ectopia Cordis occurs 8 per one million live births. The survival rate is very low. 90% of the babies are either stillborn or pass away within the first week of being out of the womb.

A ventricular septal defect or VSD is a heart defect. It’s congenital, this means that a baby is born with it. It is an opening or hole in the dividing wall called the Septum, between the two lower chambers of the heart, right and left ventricles. Ventricular septal defects are the most common type of congenital heart defects. A VSD allows oxygen-rich blood to pass from the left ventricle through the opening in the septum. Then it mixes with oxygen-poor blood in the right ventricle. There are different types of ventricular septal defects, the type your child has depends on which part of the wall between the ventricles is involved. Also the size of the opening or hole varies. A ventricular septal defect may occur more often in some families, this is because of gene defects. But most of the time, the cause is unknown. Similarly to ventricular septal defect, an Atrial septal defect is a birth defect of the heart in which there is also a hole in the wall in the septum, but instead of dividing the lower chambers it divides the upper chambers of the heart (atria), here a hole can vary in size and may close on its own or may require surgery as well. An atrial septal defect is one type of congenital heart defect, in which also the baby is born with it.

HLHS is when the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. In hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the left side of the heart can 't properly supply blood to the body because the lower left chamber (left ventricle) is too small or in some cases it may not even exist. In addition, the valves on the left side of the heart (aortic valve and mitral valve) don 't work properly, and the main artery leaving the heart (aorta) is smaller than normal. The foramen ovale is a natural opening between the upper chambers of the heart (atria) or through a blood vessel that connects the pulmonary artery directly to the aorta (ductus arteriosus) and for the first several days of life, the right side of the heart can pump blood to both the lungs and the rest of the body through this. Often babies with HLHS undergo a three-staged set of complex surgeries in which the outcome is usually leaving the child with half a heart. In doing this, it increases the child’s chances of survival. The foramen ovale usually closes after the first day or two of life then the right side of the heart has no way to pump blood out to the body.

Atrial septal defect is a hole in the wall, or septum, that divides the upper chambers of the heart, which are called atria. Usually most children who develop ASP are fine because the hole either repairs itself or is too small to cause any trouble later on in life. If the septum is flawed, oxygen deficient blood can flow directly from the right side of the heart and combine with oxygen-rich blood in the left side of the heart, or vice versa. Therefore oxygen levels in the arterial blood that supplies the body to be lower than normal due to this case. Every person had a hole in the septum to allow blood from the right atrium to enter the left atrium as a child which seals after birth due to the pressure drop on the right

She was born with Tricuspid Atresia, Vetricula Steptum Defect, along with a Mirtral valve defect and numerous other medical issues. Tricuspid Atresia is a complex heart defect that occurs when the right ventricle in the heart fails to develop correctly during development in the womb. In Smilie’s case, it caused her to have little to no function in the right ventricle of the heart. To save Smilie’s life, doctors at the Prince Charles Hospital preformed a 3-stage surgery over 2 years to redirect blood flow within her body. Smilie had the BT Shunt at a few days old, the Hemi Fontan at 6 months old and the Fenestrated Fontan completed at 2 years of age. Smilie now has Hyploplastic Right Heart Syndrome as a result, which is a generalised term used to encompass the many conditions that can cause a lack of development in the Right Ventricle Side of the heart.

The incidence of PDA is approximately 0.02 to 0.04 percent in term infants and 20 to 60 percent in preterm neonates. Patent ductus arteriosus accounts for six to eleven percent of all congenital heart defects. PDA is found twice as often in females than in males (Shinde, Basantwani, & Tendolkar, 2016). The incidence of PDA is increased in children who are born prematurely, children with a history of perinatal asphyxia, and, possibly, children born at high altitude. Up to 30 percent low birth infants develop PDA (Kim, 2016).

Medical studies report that there is no known cause of TOF. There is some things that can be seen in TOF babies but not the diffident cause. Such as, low oxygen levels, narrowing of the pulmonary outflow tract, thickened wall of the right ventricle and a VSD. However, there are a few genetic syndromes that have been reported. Such as, Down syndrome or DiGeorge syndrome (UMMC, 2013). To add to that, most people with TOF do not have genetic syndromes. Tetralogy Of Fallot does not typically run in families. Although, congenital heart defects are to some extent more common if there is a close relative who has one.

Tetralogy of Fallot affects 10% of people with congenital heart defects. Patients present with cyanosis, shortness of breath upon exertion, improved respiration in the squatting position, and physical retardation.2 Structurally, the patient have ventricular septal defects, narrowed valves leading to the pulmonary artery, and a thickened right ventricle. The shunt is from right-to-left because blood flow is obstructed due to pulmonary stenosis and right ventricle hypertrophy. This causes decreased venous return to the heart and low pressure from peripheral veins. Poor movement of oxygen in the blood

Trisomy 13 or 18 can be diagnosed before birth if developmental abnormalities are detected during routine prenatal screenings. The diagnosis can be confirmed by removing fluid from inside the womb (amniocentesis) and examining the genetic structure of fetal cells.

Atrial Septal defect is the most common form of atrial heart defect that occurs when the atrium septum fails to form properly. It is a congenital defect that creates an opening between the two chambers (right and left atrium).

During the first seven weeks of pregnancy, the heart completes its development. This is known as the embryonic period. From a single tube turns into a four chambered pump with four valves.(Herlihy) During these first seven weeks a congenital heart defect typically occurs. Congenital heart disease is when the heart forms either incompletely or incorrectly in-utero. Acquired heart disease occurs later in life. Infants are born with a normal heart that malfunctions later. Signs of acquired heart disease in adults are the heart is beating too fast or too slow, beats erratically, infections, or it is stiff and pumps poorly. Acquired heart disease in children is typically associated with bacterial or viral infections.

Congenital heart defects have become more prevalence in infants in the United States. The causes of congenital heart defects in infants are unknown. However, several factors have been linked to prenatal factors such as maternal insulin-dependent diabetes, maternal alcoholism, maternal rubella during pregnancy, and maternal age over forty. Many infants have been diagnosed with congenital heart defects in utero and the first week of life. Congenital heart defects have been detected in utero with the use of ultrasound in obstetric care. Other congenital heart defects have been diagnosed during the first week of life with symptoms in infants such as failure to thrive, failure to grow, feeding intolerance, hypoxia, signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure. The objectives of this paper are to present overviews of the congenital heart defects and outline the surgical treatments for the congenital heart defects.

Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are the most prevalent of all birth defects and the leading cause of death in the first year of life, (1) with an annual prevalence ranging from six to twelve affected infants per 1,000 live births. (2)

According to the text approximately 1, 966 babies are born with Atrial Septal Defect. People who have this disorder are dealing with this everyday of their life. Since Atrial Septal Defect is a heart condition, the symptoms and treatment have an impact on everyday life.

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), one of the more common cardiac defects at birth, is the persistence of an opening between the pulmonary artery and the descending thoracic aorta. This opening is as a result of failure of the physiological fetus ductus arteriosus to close, which normally occurs soon after birth. This hole allows for oxygenated blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-depleted blood from the pulmonary artery. As a consequence, significant strain is placed on the heart and pressure within the lungs’ arteries is dramatically increased.