Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

House Call: Finding answers from congenital heart defect

Dr. Alisa Hideg

Congenital heart defects are the most common kinds of birth defects, affecting 8 out of every 1,000 babies born in the United States.

These structural problems with the heart can be discovered before a child is born using ultrasound, soon after birth, during childhood or teen years, and sometimes not until adulthood. How early they are discovered usually depends on how severe the defect is. Ultrasound, electrocardiogram, chest x-ray, echocardiogram, blood tests, physical exam, medical history and family history can be used to diagnose heart defects. Sometimes other additional tests are needed. In infants, congenital heart defect can cause blue coloration, very low blood pressure, breathing difficulties, feeding problems or poor weight gain.

People who are diagnosed as teenagers and adults often tell me that they had been aware that something just was not right. Perhaps they were always out of breath as children when other kids were able to keep running. Maybe their hands turned blue or numb for no obvious reason. Sometimes they recall fainting. Whatever it was that they noticed, it did not make sense to them until their heart condition was diagnosed.

A few heart defects are associated with specific genetic conditions or even a specific gene. Damage to the heart may also be caused when a fetus is exposured to an infection or a drug during pregnancy, but the cause of most heart defects is not known.

The most common examples of congenital heart defects include a hole somewhere inside your heart or aorta (the artery from your heart that is carrying the oxygen rich blood your entire body needs), a narrowing of the arteries leaving your heart, a heart valve that is missing, too narrow or does not work properly or a rearrangement of one or more arteries or veins that disrupts the normal flow of blood through body-heart-lungs-heart-body.

Your heart is divided into four chambers. The two top chambers are called atria and the two lower chambers are called ventricles. An atrial septal defect is a hole between the two top chambers of your heart and a ventricular septal defect is a hole between the two lower chambers. The ductus arteriosis is a hole that lets blood skip circulation to the baby’s lungs while in the womb. If this does not close after birth, the open hole is called patent ductus arteriosis.

Coarctation of the aorta is when the aorta is narrowed. This can cause high blood pressure or heart damage.

Aortic valve stenosis , Ebstein’s anomaly and pulmonary valve stenosis are defects where a valve does not open and/or close properly.

It can be scary to find out that you or your child has a congenital heart defect, but the good news is that many of them can be repaired or treated with surgery, catheter procedures or medication. The course of treatment will depend on the type and severity of the defect, and the individual’s overall health. Children with simple defects usually survive into adulthood. For anyone with a heart defect, exercise capacity may be limited, but most people live nearly normal lives.

Whether a congenital heat defect is discovered as a child or as an adult and regardless of how it is treated, it is important to have lifelong follow-up care, such as periodic checkups and screening for complications. For your sake and those you love, do everything you can to keep your heart healthy.

Learn more about the heart at the American Heart Association website, http://www.heart.org.

Dr. Alisa Hideg is a family medicine physician at Group Health’s Riverfront Medical Center in Spokane. Her column appears every other Tuesday in the Today section.