Heart Abnormalities: Critical Congenital Heart Defects

With medical and technological advancements, infant and child mortality rates have decreased over the years, but congenital heart disease is still a leading contributor to these mortality rates. Children with congenital heart disease undergo more severe and rapid medical treatment putting their parents through even harder times. These issues are worth exploring because congenital heart disease is an ongoing illness that has more and more relevant research being done on it. In the United States of America, an increasing number of children are being born and diagnosed with congenital heart disease (CHD) due to medical advancements. This illness not only impacts the infant’s life long term, but it also affects the parent’s well-being (Tak, & McCubbin, 2002). It has

Some symptoms include chest discomfort, coughing, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, pressure, dizziness, shortness of breath, yellowing, restlessness and sweat spells. Some causes of a heart

Congenital heart disease is a cardiovascular condition resulting from an abnormality in the structure of the heart. The exact time this defect forms is unknown but it is during the fetal development in the womb. Researchers think the defect could be case partially by genetics and medical conditions of the fetus and the parents. If the baby’s mother had rubella, while pregnant or other conditions such as diabetes could have caused the defect. Some medications that were taken by a pregnant mother could also have caused birth defects. An error on chromosome 22 could also have caused the heart defect. Some symptoms that a person may have a congenital heart may not show up until later in life but many children also have the symptoms. Symptoms of a congenital heart defect are abnormal heartbeat, bluish tint to skin, shortness of breath, dizziness or fainting, and swelling of body tissues and organs.

Syndrome. Approximately half of all infants born with Down’s syndrome have a heart defect. Many of these defects have serious implications”

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.

For both Atrial and Ventricular septal defect the size of the opening or hole affects how severe the child’s

One of the rarest of congenital cardiac defects is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, HLHS. This syndrome is described as a collection of anomalies affecting the left heart and connecting structures. Due to advancements in surgical intervention mortality rates in neonates with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome have decreased. Management of these patients requires a symphony of multidisciplinary teams including fetal and pediatric cardiologist, cardiac surgeons, neonatologist, pulmonologist, nutritionist and family counselors. Options currently comprise of heart transplant, three-staged palliative surgery and comfort care. There may be co-morbidities present which further complicate treatment, but with surgical intervention the

Critical Congenital Heart Defect (CCHD) is a subgroup of congenital heart defects that normally necessitates surgical intervention or catheterization procedure during the neonatal period (Good, Canale, Goodman, & Yeager, 2015). According to Mahle et al. (2009), although there are measures taken to detect CCHD like prenatal ultrasound and comprehensive newborn physical examination during newborn’s birth hospitalization, there is still a significant percentage of newborns with CCHD that is left undetected and discharged home without being diagnosed. Delay in diagnosis of CCHD increases morbidity and mortality (Mahle et al., 2009). In response to this, Riede et al. (2010) mentioned that the diagnostic gap in CCHD could be bridged by screening newborns using pulse oximetry

The heart cannot help but break for the suffering of children who are marked by the cruelty of congenital diseases. One such disease is tetralogy of tallot which as a congenital ailment occurs at birth and involves four different kinds of cardial defects (Mayo Clinic, 2015). The incidents of tetralogy of fallot is actually quite rare with only five out of every 10,000 developing it at birth (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2011). It is still important to be familiar with. One reason for the need of understanding the disease is that of all congenital heart disorders it is the one most frequently seen, and the mortality rate is another consideration as 50% will not survive past the age of six should tetralogy of fallot be left untreated (Bhimji & Mancini, 2015). Finally, while vast improvements have been made in intervention of the disease improving survivability the condition will have an effect upon a patients throughout their lifetimes. It is because of these that it is important for early recognition, diagnosis, treatment and care of the disease be enacted to ensure not only a positive health outcome but also a good quality of life.

Congenital heart disease- refers to a misshapen heart muscle as a result of a birth defect, changing the way in which the blood flows from the heart to and through the lungs and body

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome is a heart condition that affects the blood flow to the heart. It also can be where you are born with a hole in the wall that divides the upper chambers of the heart. The hole can vary in sizes. It can be big enough to require surgery or it can be small enough to heal on it’s own. As the baby grows inside the mother's stomach there are more holes at the time then when the baby is born. Usually all the holes close. Sometimes they don’t. This results in HLHS .The one little hole causes access blood to flow to the lungs and over time can harm the blood vessels in the lungs. There are other problems that can be caused by this. You can have increased heart rate and a better chance of a stroke. Some symptoms to look for if you think your baby might have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome are Bluish skin, cold hands and feet, poor pulse, poor feeding, loud heart beat, breathing very quickly, and shortness of breathe. If his whole body is blue this is a guaranteed sign that the blood is not flowing correctly. If just his hands and feet are blue this means they could have problems or it

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)

One symptom is heart murmur. Heart murmur is when your heart makes swishing sound heard in you heart. Other symptoms that are typically known is shortness of breath. This can happen when exercising or doing some kind of body workout. These treatment can be treated by different kinds of things. This disorder can be treated by doing heart surgery or cardiac catheterization. For the surgery they will stitch up the hole with surgical materials or your body’s own tissue. Cardiac catheterization is when they put a flexible tube in your heart to insert a device in the hole to cover it. People who have atrial septal defect face fewer challenges in their daily

Content: Our group was assigned velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS). I was excited to receive a syndrome to which I had not been exposed. I was assigned etiology, history, and incidence/prevalence. I learned that VCFS originates from the Latin words “velum” which means “palate,” “cardia” which means “heart,” and “facies” which means having to do with the face. It is the most common syndrome associated with cleft palate! Additionally, VCFS is an autosomal dominant condition. This means that once a person is recognized as having VCFS, they have a 50 percent chance of passing the syndrome on to their offspring. VCFS is characterized by a small deletion of chromosome 22, more specifically in the region of 22q11.2. This deletion results in about 30 genes becoming absent from chromosome 22. Two genes in particular-COMT and TBX1-are associated with VCFS (not all genes that cause VCFS have been identified). However, I am not sure why these genes are involved. I tried to research the reason, but could not find a plausible explanation. I also learned that more often than not, neither parent of a child with VCFS has the deletion of 22q11.2. This means that the condition is NEW in 93 percent of offspring. The good news is that the chance for the couple to produce another child with VCFS is close to zero. The deletion occurs as an accident when either the egg or sperm is being formed, OR early in fetal development. Angelo DiGeorge, MD, is one of the people