overview
- If your child has a congenital heart defect, it means that your child was born with a problem with the structure of their heart.
- Some congenital heart defects in children are straightforward and do not require treatment. Other congenital heart defects in children are more complex and may require multiple surgeries over a period of years.
- Knowing your child’s congenital heart defect will help you better understand its condition and what will happen in the months and years to come.
symptom
Serious congenital heart defects usually occur soon after birth or in the first few months of life. Signs and symptoms can include:
- Light gray or blue skin color (cyanosis)
- Rapid breathing
- Swelling of the legs, abdomen or around the eyes
- Shortness of breath while feeding, resulting in poor weight gain
The reasons
- Chambers and heart valves
- Ventricles and Heart Valves Open the popup dialog
- How the heart works
- The heart is divided into four hollow chambers, two on the right and two on the left. To pump blood around the body, the heart uses its left and right sides to do different things.
The right side of the heart carries blood to the lungs through vessels called pulmonary arteries. In the lungs, the blood picks up oxygen and then returns to the left side of the heart through the pulmonary veins. The left side of the heart then pumps blood through the aorta and to the rest of the body.
Risk factors
- Most congenital heart defects result from problems in your child’s early heart development, the cause of which is unknown. However, certain environmental and genetic risk factors can play a role. They include:
- Rubella (German measles). Rubella during pregnancy can cause problems with your baby’s heart development. Your doctor can test you for immunity to this viral disease before pregnancy and vaccinate you against it if you are not immune.
Diabetes. You can reduce the risk of congenital heart defects by carefully controlling your diabetes before attempting to conceive and during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes usually doesn’t increase your baby’s risk of developing a heart defect.
Medication. Some medicines taken during pregnancy can cause birth defects, including birth defects of the heart. Give your doctor a full list of the medications you are taking before trying to get pregnant. Congenital heart defects in children treatment in Khammam
Complications
Some possible complications that can occur with a congenital heart defect include:
Heart failure. This serious complication can occur in babies with a significant heart defect. Signs of heart failure include rapid breathing, often accompanied by wheezing, and insufficient weight gain.
Slower growth and slower development. Children with more severe congenital heart defects often develop and grow more slowly than children without heart defects. They may be smaller than other children of their own age, and if the nervous system is affected, they may learn to walk and speak later than other children.
Cardiac arrhythmias. Problems with the heart rhythm (arrhythmias) can be caused by a congenital heart defect or by scars that form after surgery to correct a congenital heart defect.
Cyanosis. If your child’s heart defect causes deoxygenated blood and oxygenated blood to mix in their heart, your child may develop grayish-blue skin, a condition called cyanosis. Congenital heart defects in children treatment in Khammam
prevention
Because the exact cause of most birth defects is unknown, it may not be possible to prevent these conditions from occurring. However, there are things you can do to reduce your child’s overall risk for birth defects and possibly heart defects, such as:
Get the rubella vaccine. Rubella infection during pregnancy can affect your baby’s heart development. Make sure you get the vaccine before trying to receive.
Control chronic diseases. If you have diabetes, controlling your blood sugar can reduce the risk of heart defects. If you have other chronic conditions like epilepsy that require the use of Congenital heart defects in children treatment in Khammam