Your child has been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect known as L-Transposition of the Great Arteries, or Congenitally Corrected Transposition of the Great Arteries. This guide has been created to answer some of the more common questions that parents of children with this congenital heart defect may have.
What causes this?
While genetic factors may contribute to this heart defect, it is unknown what causes it.
What is it?
In a child with L-Transposition of the Great Arteries (l-TGA), the left and right ventricles, or pumping chambers of the heart, are reversed, and the large arteries of the heart, the aorta and the pulmonary artery, are connected to the wrong ventricles.
This is very different from d-Transposition of the Great Arteries, in that, the oxygenated and unoxygenated blood still has a normal blood flow
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Children born with l-TGA are not usually blue or cyanotic, and many may not even be diagnosed until they are much older. The right ventricle in a child with l-TGA must work harder than it is designed to, and so its function may decrease over time. If there are other congenital heart defects present with l-TGA, the child may be blue, and a murmur (noisy blood flow in the heart) is usually heard.
Does my child need surgery?
Many children with l-TGA, who do not have other congenital heart defects or problems with their heart valves, will not need surgery. Sometimes problems with the valves, the right ventricle, or the rhythm of the heart can develop over time. It is very important that children with l-TGA have a cardiologist that can monitor them closely for signs of any problems.
What special care will my child need?
Children with l-TGA may need medications to help their heart function better, to control their blood pressure, and to help their kidneys get rid of extra fluid they may have. Some children may need surgery to put in a pacemaker to help control their heart rhythm.
Do I need to limit my child’s
Atrioventricular Canal Defect is an abnormality that causes the mixing of blood. There is a hole in center of heart where the wall between the upper and lower chambers meet. The tricuspid and mitral valves aren’t formed properly and one large valve crosses the defect. The defect lets oxygen rich blood pass to the heart’s right side and mix with deoxygenated blood, then go back to the lungs. Another abnormality is Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), where the walls of the upper chambers of the heart don’t close completely, causing a left to right movement of blood due to the higher pressure. The mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood may cause the right atrium and ventricle to enlarge due to the higher volume of blood.
They may start with a physical exam and listening to the patient’s heart. If an abnormal heartbeat is heard the doctor may recommend an electrocardiogram. This procedure monitors the electrical impulses of the heart to detect irregular heart beat. Chest X-rays may also be used to better evaluate the heart and lungs. There are also many other ways to detect defects such as an echocardiogram, exercise stress test, cardiac catheterization, CT scan, or MRI. Congenital heart disease can be minor or severe, so depending on the case there are many different treatment options. For minor cases medications and regular exams will do. For severe cases, implantable heart devices, catheter procedures, and even open-heart surgery may be needed. In rare cases a heart transplant may be required. Congenital heart disease can affect both children and
2. The defect in Caleb’s heart allows blood to mix between the two ventricular chambers. Due to this defect would you expect the blood to move from left-to-right ventricle or right-to-left ventricle during systole? Explain your answer based on blood pressure and resistance in the heart and great vessels. It goes left to right during systole. The difference is normally, oxygen-poor (blue) blood returns to the right atrium from the body, travels to the right ventricle, and then is pumped into the lungs where it receives oxygen. Oxygen-rich (red) blood returns to the left atrium from the lungs, passes into the left ventricle, and then is pumped out to the body through the aorta. But when an infant has ventricular septal defect it still allows oxygen-rich (red) blood to pass from the left ventricle, through the opening in the septum, and then mix with oxygen-poor (blue) blood in the right ventricle. (ROCHESTER.EDU) but instead when systole occurs the blood gets mixed because of the septum therefore heart needs to pump harder to ensure that enough blood with oxygen reaches the body.
Individuals with this disorder further acquire congenital heart defects. It specifically blocks off the natural blood flow from the lungs and right chamber of the heart and/or causes an anomalous gap in the barrier that divides the heart chambers in two. Another symptom of this disorder are the problems involved in the digestive system. People who have this syndrome are
Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome is a very serious birth defect. Studies say, “each year approximately… 640 to 1440 infants in the United States are born with HLHS” (Paediatr Child Health,2). Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, also known as HLHS, is a birth defect where the left ventricle of the heart is either underdeveloped or absent. Today, there are heart surgeries that can help children born with HLHS survive longer and sometimes even live long, happy lives. Though, not all children survive HLHS. Many infants die whilst waiting for a donor heart.
Mr. Lisiecki is the founder of the Heart Challenge Swim Association (http://www.heartchallengeswim.org/), and a volunteer of the Mended Hearts Community (http://mendedhearts.org/), dedicated to pediatric congenital heart defects research and awareness. According to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, there are more than 18 congenital heart defects that affect children. Problems with his own heart eventually found him on the operating table of Belling ham’s Dr. Andrew Coletti, who performed corrective surgery and later implanted a defibrillator to insure a steady pulse of which he soon took advantage.
For both Atrial and Ventricular septal defect the size of the opening or hole affects how severe the child’s
4. left ventricle 5. superior vena cava 6. inferior vena cava 7. ascending aorta 8. aortic arch 9. brachiocephalic artery 10. left common carotid artery 11. left subclavian artery 12. pulmonary trunk 13. right pulmonary artery 14. left pulmonary artery 15. ligamentum arteriosum 16. right pulmonary veins 17. left pulmonary veins 18. right coronary artery 19. anterior cardiac vein t s w x v 20. left coronary artery 21. circumflex artery 22. anterior
Although Mitral Valve Prolapse has existed for many years, there are a few facts a person should know while being diagnosed with this disease. Mitral Valve Prolapse is the most common valve abnormality in the U.S (Gillinov 517). About two to three percent of the population has Mitral Valve Prolapse (Gillinov 517). Of that percentage, very few need surgery due to a severe leak (Gillinov 326). If surgical treatment is necessary, a person receiving a non-surgical valve can most likely receive a 20 percent greater chance to live at least 1 year after treatment, compared to patients receiving medication alone (Gillinov 517). This means many people who were born or diagnosed with a valve problem can most likely be diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse over any other heart valve disease. When a father or a mother has Mitral Valve Prolapse, this creates a very high chance when they have a child, the child will be born having
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.
It is considered to account for the most deaths during the first week of an infant’s life who suffers from a congenital heart defect (Texas Heart Institute, 2014). In a healthy heart, oxygen-poor blood returns to the heart from the body. The heart receives the blood through the veins and enters the right atrium where it then pushes the blood through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. From here, the blood moves through the pulmonary valve out of the heart via the pulmonary artery and into the lungs where it receives oxygen to be transported. The blood returns to the heart by the pulmonary veins into the left atrium where it is then passed through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. Oxygen-rich blood is pumped from the left ventricle into the aorta through the aorta valve where it is then sent throughout the body, returning to the right atrium to continue the cycle (American Heart Association,
A hallmark of tetralogy of fallot is the deficiency of oxygenated blood being pumped to the heart from the lungs and from the heart into the aorta to the rest of the body. To better understand how this abnormality can have a negative effect on patients it helps to visualize how the heart normally functions. First, the superior and
This helps to improve the blood flow to the heart. A surgical procedure known as coronary artery bypass graft is done when multiple arteries of a patient’s heart become clogged and need to be opened by performing ‘open heart’ surgery. When heart valves get damage because of Lyme disease or any other heart disease, valve replacements might also be done by the doctor.
Cyanotic congenital heart defects include; Transposition of the great arteries, Truncus arteriosus, Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection. (5)
In addition, scientists have found that genetics also plays a role in cardiac arrhythmias and that in some cases patients have commented that they had no symptoms before they succumbed to some form of episode of cardiac distress, like a sudden heart attack. This has proven to be standard for many different forms of arrhythmias, whether it’s due to genetics or not. One such case is the long QT syndrome (LQTS) which is estimated to affect one in every 5000 people and is recognized as a family disorder, frequent in children during their childhood years (Wilde, and Bezzina 1352–1358.) Patients with this disorder can have symptoms of a fluttering heartbeat, shortness of breath, and chest pain, while other patients might not experience any symptoms at all (Wilde, and Bezzina 1352–1358.) Another known disorder is cardiac conduction disease, which is mostly due to some form of cardiac injury (Wilde, and Bezzina 1352–1358.) Symptoms for this