What is congenital heart disease?
Congenital heart disease, or a congenital heart defect, is a heart abnormality present at birth. This disease can affect:
The heart walls
The heart valves
The blood vessels
There are numerous kinds of congenital heart defects. They may range from simple conditions that don’t display any symptoms to complex problems that cause severe, life-threatening symptoms.
According to the statics around 2 Lakh, children suffer from congenital heart defects each year, which is 9 out of every 1000 babies born. Treatments and follow-up care for defects have improved drastically over the past few decades, so nearly all children with heart defects survive into adulthood. Only some need continuous monitoring of their heart defect throughout their lives. However, many continue to lead active and productive lives despite their condition.
There are various kinds of congenital heart defects, They can be further categorised into three main categories :
- In heart valve defects, the valves inside the heart that direct blood flow may leak or stop working. This interferes with the heart’s ability to pump the blood correctly and to its optimum capacity.
- In heart wall defects, the natural walls that exist between the left and right sides and also the upper and lower chambers of the heart might not develop correctly, causing blood to not flow into the heart or to build up in places where it doesn’t belong. The defect puts pressure on to the heart and its walls to work harder, which can lead to high vital sign.
- In blood vessel defects, the arteries and veins that carry blood to the heart and backflow of the blood to the body might not function correctly. this may reduce or block blood flow, resulting in various health complications.
One such case was of a newly born baby of hardly 3 months old. In which the blood was supplied to the heart by the pulmonary vein into the right atrium instead. Which is a serious condition, in such cases the patient does not survive for long until and unless he/she has a hole in the heart. Due to the condition, the baby had turned slightly blue in discolouration. The baby went under 2D Eco and Colour Doppler to confirm the diagnosis and evaluate the condition. Once the condition was evaluated the parents had been advised an open heart surgery which was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Rahul Patil – Paediatric Cardiologist in Pune, along with a team of a cardiac surgeon. The surgery was successfully performed after which the patient was discharged.
Dr. Rahul Patil – Best cardiologist in Pune, believes that if a proper diagnosis is made by a good cardiologist. The treatment can prove to be a great success.