An Overview of Congenital Heart Diseases

When the doctor says it is a congenital heart disease, what they mean is that there is a deformity in the heart or at least on the larger blood vessels near it and that the condition is present right at one’s birth. Congenital literally implies “born with” and it technically relates to time and not to the real cause of the disease.

Congenital heart disease goes by different names. Sometimes it is referred to as congenital heart defects or congenital cardiovascular disease, among its other names. But by whatever name it is called, it means only one thing – the heart is not functioning in its normal shape and form.

Research had shown that the occurrence of congenital heart disease is quite common. In fact, it ranks as one of the major birth deformities in newly born babies to date. It currently affects about 1%, or more accurately, eight babies per a thousand born.

But even though congenital heart disease is present even before the baby is born, it may go undetected for sometime. The condition being diagnosed in a week after the baby is out of the mother’s womb happens only 50% the time. In around 60% of the cases, it is diagnosed after a month. And the in rest of which, the disease is not detected until after the baby is about two months old or more.

There are a lot of causes leading to congenital heart disease. For one, the environment plays a major role. Infections, chemicals, and drugs present inside the mother’s womb during the formation stages of the fetus is a big factor. Infections coming from German measles for example, may lead to the disease. And as for chemicals, alcohol is the most common culprit. For drugs however, it is retinoic acid, or more commonly the drugs used to cure acne.

If the mother is suffering from any other diseases, like diabetes mellitus for instance, congenital heart disease may also arise. The possibility of it coming from some abnormalities in the chromosomes cannot be eliminated as well. Genetic factors, like the Carpenter syndrome and Apert syndrome among others, can contribute to the onset of disease as well.

The symptoms of congenital heart disease is directly associated to the severity and the type of heart defect present in the child. It is also possible that some babies do not show any signs or symptoms at all. Some would have them, and the most common of which are breathlessness, discoloration of the skin because of lack of oxygen in their blood, pains felt around the chest area, fainting, and poor appetite and growth.

Most types of congenital heart diseases are improved or corrected through surgery, while some types don’t require any treatment at all. And this only means that people born with this disease do have the possibility of living a full, healthy life.

But it is also a fact that several forms of this disease cause major problems on the body early on. This is when surgical operations are supposed to be performed. The normal thing for doctors to do is to conduct the operation while the disease is still in its early stages. But there could also be times that the doctor prefers to do it later in the patient’s life, because doing it while they are still young and incapable of withstanding all the possible side effects is critical.

Whichever the case, medical care and attention is required after the surgical procedure. Therapy and medications have to be continued, all under the supervision of a medical expert. This is important because some types of this disease are known to spring back, and a number of which do even for no reason at all.

There are also cases that surgery cannot fix the problem at all. But it is still carried out because it can contribute greatly to the improvement of the patient’s health. Undergoing major operation to improve, but not to heal a congenital heart disease is a close call, but this disease can really be severe it can take lives.