Congenital heart disease is a condition which occur at the birth of the child in the heart. It has to be detected as early as possible and treated according to the condition to prevent it from progressing further.

There are different types of congenital heart disease.

In general, it is classified into

1. Conditions with increased pulmonary blood flow ( blood flow to the lungs ) – Increased blood flow to the lungs may be due to hole in the upper or lower chamber of the heart.
2. Conditions with decreased blood flow to the lungs – Decreased blood flow to the lungs may be due to various conditions causing obstruction to the blood flow to the lung.

It depends upon the type of the congenital heart disease.

Certain conditions have to be treated within 21 days of life. For some other type of conditions, we can wait for 1 or 2 years with follow up and treat symptomatically with medicines and finally correct when the child is older.

In the current Pediatric Heart surgery scenario, facilities are available to treat babies of weight even below 2kg.

So if needed, the defect has to corrected immediately after birth of the baby to ensure the normal growth of the baby.

Apart from routine open heart surgeries, today’s technology has developed to an extent that we can close the hole in the heart with a button type of device through the vessel in the leg without the burden of major surgery or anesthesia.

Also certain surgeries can be done without stopping the heart ( beating heart surgery ) and with small incision in the side of the chest wall to prevent scar in the center of the chest.

Since diseased heart will consume a lot of energy, children with heart disease may not gain weight as per the age and there will be gross limitation of activities.

If it is not detected and appropriately treated earlier, as the baby becomes old we may not be able to correct it at all, as the disease may progress to such an extent that it will affect the lungs and other organs also. So it is very important to detect early and treat accordingly.

It depends upon the type of the disease and its time of treatment.

But most of the children can undergo a normal life if treated at the correct age. To prevent complications the child must be on regular follow up as advised by the consultant.

This is an developmental anomaly that occurs during the development of the baby in the uterus of the mother.

It may be due to various reasons like genetic , environmental, intake of teratogenic substance ( certain drugs, alcohol , smoking, radiation) infections during pregnancy and Increased Maternal age is one of the proven risk for the developmental anomaly.

This can be prevented by taking certain precautions like

• Avoiding radiation exposure during pregnancy ( x- ray , CT scan, metal detectors and X-ray scanners in airport and recreation malls also emit radiation.
• Consult your Gynenocologist before taking any drug during pregnancy even for common cold , body pain etc
• Vaccintion for Rubella infection before pregnancy.
• Folic acid supplementation as soon as the missed period and confirmation of pregnancy.

Now a days, lot of test are available to detect the abnormality in utero itself and decide the mode of management before the birth of the baby. They are,

• TORCH profile for the diagnosis of dangerous infections during pregnancy to be done as soon as the pregnancy was confirmed.
• Antenatal ultrasound scan at 20 weeks of pregnancy will detect the type of congenital heart disease and appropriate management can be done either in utero or after birth.
• Amniotic fluid examination at 20 weeks pregnancy can reveal the various syndromes that may cause the congenital heart disease.

These facilities will help us to diagnose the condition of the heart disease in the baby and manage it with certain drugs during the pregnancy itself and anticipate it during delivery and treat as soon as the delivery of the baby if necessary.

Even if the chances of a baby having congenital heart disease is minimal , it is always good to be aware of the disease and create awareness among our friends and family.