Hello everyone today I'm sharing about a congenital heart disease in childrens
What is congenital heart disease?
Congenital means something that is present at birth and when you talk about congenital heart disease it is a term that we use to describe a number of different conditions that affect the heart these heart abnormalities or defects are problems that occur at a baby's heart when it is developing during pregnancy before the baby is born now there are specific steps that take place in order to form the heart correctly but if one of these steps don't occur in a right order or do not occur at all then the child is born with a congenital heart disease
What causes heart defects in childrens?
The heart abnormalities occur when the baby is developing during pregnancy it makes it one of the most common birth defects in the UK one to two percent of the population will have a congenital heart disease which means that about six to eight in thousand live births will have one or the other form of a heart defect.
Now in most cases when a baby is born with a congenital heart defect there is no known reason for it. it is just an unfortunate step that happens during pregnancy and the heart is not able to develop on its own. however there can be some risk factors that can cause congenital heart disease and they could be forms of genetic or chromosomal abnormalities i that which means that there is a genetic defect the child has also got which then causes them to have a heart defect as a result of it rarely it could be some maternal causes that can also increase the risk of a baby being born with a congenital heart defect that could be a maternal infection diabetes or some connective tissue disorder type of abnormality within the mum
But often in doctor's experience they always see that most children do not have any reason for them being born with a congenital heart defect there is also a slight increased risk if there is a family history of congenital heart disease and this risk increases by two to three percent in the first degree relative with congenital heart disease. doctors don't really see the increase if uh families have a second degree or further down the line with relatives having congenital heart disease but only applies to the first degree relatives.
What are the signs a child may have congenital heart disease?
Congenital heart disease is a spectrum of disease and it can be from very simple to complex it also depends whether the complex congenital heart disease is picked up and this the child is a baby or a young child so it also depends on the age of the child when the heart condition is picked up. Now as a result of it the presentation can vary a lot depending on when you have identified a problem or a symptom or a sign now the most common features are presentation that we see is a blue tinge to the skin or lips which is called cyanosis they could have a rapid heart rate or a rapid breathing sometimes also shortness of breath and as a result of this the baby with shortness of breath and rapid breathing can have a very reduced feeding and they are not able to keep up with their appetite
In older children you might see a symptoms of being very tired fatigued lethargy where they're not able to perform their routine activities as best as they could before and all of this gives an indication that there could be something wrong with the heart and towards and congenital heart disease one of the other things that we also see in babies is it's called failure to thrive which means in medical terms inability to gain weight and if a mom or dad were to go through the red book of the child and see that their weight is not growing on the sentinel lines it would be an indication to suggest that there could be something wrong and one of the reasons could be a problem with the heart occasionally you have rare conditions. Where the child or a baby could present themselves in significant heart failure and during that time they can have swellings in their legs again they might have shortness of breath swelling around the eyes or face and inability to keep their appetite reduced weight and they could all culminate into having signs suggestive of they've got some sort of a complex or difficult heart condition.
How serious is congenital heart disease in childrens?
As i said there is a spectrum of heart conditions that babies or children are born with and depending on the complexity of the cardiac lesion they can be very mild or simple or can be at the very end of the complex spectrum it is important to realize that about 25 percent of patients who are bought with complex congenital heart disease or critical congenital heart disease would require surgery within the first year of life most patients require some sort of surgical treatment or procedure which is the only way you can correct a heart defect with which you are born with patients who have conditions like heart failure related to either a normal heart or a heart muscle disease may require medical treatment in the first instance but occasionally they also require further intervention or procedures to help them with the with the treatment.
How is it most commonly treated? Is treatment is always necessary?
Most congenital heart defects would require a form of treatment either straight away or in due course complex congenital heart disease is a spectrum of disease from a very simple problem to a very complicated structural problem in the heart and majority of the patients would require either cardiac surgery or some sort of procedure to help treat the problem not all patients get completely treated so some of them have a management plan called palliative care or palliative treatment which means that you're able to treat some part of the heart disease but as you move on the further treatments might be possible or not possible.
However majority of the surgeries and treatments are available with really good outcomes in this day and age it is also important to note that 25% of patients born with critical congenital heart disease would require surgery in the very first year of their life.
So doctors work with a lot of small babies and children who require heart surgeries very early on and as a result of this being a complex problem most children with congenital heart disease will require lifelong follow-up and ongoing care even as they be turned into adults now in because of the advances in medical technology and the science.
Majority of patients are now able to transfer to or transition to adulthood with their congenital heart disease and about 80 percent of them will in the current stage are living with their heart disease as an adult it's also important to note that there are some conditions within structural normal hearts which might be treated with medical treatment and might not require surgery in the first instance.
However many patients would also require a surgery or some sort of intervention later on in these situations as well so it's it's quite a complex area which requires most of the time treatment and many patients will completely recover but occasionally they might not get the full treatment available to these patients.
Don't forget to share this congenital heart disease information to your friends and families.
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