Deconstructing Congenital Heart Defects: Part II

Heart diseases are generally associated with adults for instance it’s quite frequent we hear someone had a heart attack or the heart just stopped beating. It’s hard to associate a young child with heart disease.

Congenital heart disease is an abnormality of the heart in which the newborn baby is born with a defect in the heart. This maybe a hole in heart by birth or another type of defect. The defect can be in terms of functionality or structural deficits. Which means that the baby’s heart is unable to function normally. For example, there can be mixing of oxygenated or deoxygenated blood due to some wall defect or there can be some aberrant shape or a part like one of the chambers can be missing. It is worrisome because these defects unless of gross and apparent symptoms like breathlessness and blue turning of baby can be missed. And it is not until the baby turns into an adult that these symptoms become obvious. Awareness about these symptoms continues to remain low though organisations like Genesis Foundation, a heart care foundation in India have been working a lot to build awareness.

In this article I will try to talk about a few common congenital heart conditions, their causes and symptoms wherever possible so that as a new parent or any family member or just any one as a matter of fact, are more aware about the symptoms and features. This helps one to spot when it’s not normal.

Factors that Could Cause a Congenital Heart Defect

Before shedding the light on specific conditions, I want to discuss some conditions which are preventable mostly and can occur when the baby is in the mother’s uterus due to toxic exposure mostly in the first three months of life.

Heart is one of the first organs to develop as early as 22 days hence the heart takes the hit if there is some toxic exposure to the body.  Even before conceiving it’s of pivotal importance that if a mother is using any of the below mentioned substances or medications, she should refrain from them and stop them immediately. In medical terms those substances which causes defects in the growing fetus specifically when consumed in the first three of months are called teratogens.

Following are some commonly used teratogens and medical illness if stopped in a timely manner or treated through vaccination (rubella) can inhibit development of a hole in heart by birth or other types of congenital heart defects.

It is also of importance to note that the etiology of congenital heart disease is multifactorial, but some substances are major culprits for development of the condition. There is a familial tendency, males and females are equally affected, and more than one defect may be present in an individual.

Diseases and hazards faced in the first trimester of pregnancy are thought to be important (e.g. maternal rubella resulting in fetal PDA, VSD or ASD)

• Alcohol- consumption of alcohol during pregnancy can cause a congenital heart defect to the foetus.
• Medications such as antidepressants, anti-epileptics and certain antibiotics. There have been some data supporting an increased risk of cardiac malformations with an even higher risk if the exposure occurred to these during the first-trimester.
• Infections – maternal Rubella known to cause multiple defects can be easily handled by giving pre-conception vaccine in endemic areas or at-risk patients

Hence before planning a baby or if conceived already it’s important to discuss with your doctor if you are on any of the medications not just the ones listed above. It’s also important to share if there is history of consumption to alcohol, marijuana, opium, tobacco etc.

Some Common Types of Congenital Heart Defects

Atrial Septal Defects: Atrial septal defects or ASD,, are a type of congenital heart defect characterised by an abnormal opening in the septum that separates the heart’s two upper chambers, the atria. This defect allows blood to flow between the right and left atria, which can lead to various health complications if left untreated.

This condition can be asymptomatic in younger ages. The symptoms in such a case will show when the baby is a teenager or an adult, as the physical activity increases.

The child might show easily getting tired after mild exercises and breathless and sometimes fainting as well.

Ventricular Septal Defects : Ventricular Septal Defect or VSD is one of the most common congenital heart defects. It involves an abnormal opening in the septum, the wall dividing the left and right ventricles of the heart.

Some Common symptoms to look out for would be-

• Rapid breathing
• Poor weight gain
• Easy

With an improvement in medical sciences, most children born with a congenital heart defect can live near normal lives, with a timely intervention. It is thus critical to be aware of the symptoms and places one needs to reach out to for help in the case of a suspicion of a congenital heart defect.

Share this article to help build awareness and ensure that more children are able to access timely treatment.