Heart defects can develop at any stage in life or they can be present since birth, in which case they are called congenital heart defects or CHD.
CHD can be fatal, or mild in which case the condition cures on its own with time. Further, treating CHD is not a one-time affair and there may be interventions required as the child grows.
CHD shows signs and symptoms pretty early after the birth of the infant. It’s important to recognize the signs and symptoms so that timely medical help can be provided. If detected late, the infant may suffer intensely or develop complications while growing up.
Signs and Symptoms of Congenital Heart Disease in Infants
- Heart murmur: When a doctor listens to the chest of an adult or a healthy child, there is a faint swooshing sound which is that of a normal heartbeat. But for babies with CHD, the sound is similar to a high-pitched ‘swoosh’, or like a group of people murmuring.
- Feeding issues: The child does not eat well and is always sleepy, or prefers to sleep than eat. In some cases, the baby eats voraciously. This is because a lot of calories are required to keep the heart pumping.
- Growth problems: As a direct consequence of the above, the child does not gain weight like normal babies do. This situation is called ‘failing to thrive’.
- Breathing issues: The baby is always short of breath and is gasping for air, or there is rapid breathing. Further, when one presses their ear to the chest of the baby, the heartbeat is very loud and prominent as against a healthy baby or adult.
- Choking and coughing: The baby keeps choking on food or has a persistent cough that doesn’t go away.
- Bluish lips, tongue, hands, and nail-beds: Called cyanosis, this happens when the body is not getting enough oxygen due to the mixing of pure and impure blood.
- Excessive sweating while feeding or resting: This happens because the heart is pumping extra hard to make up for the defect.
- Listless/restless: The child appears restless and perennially agitated.
- Tiring easily while eating: Again, because the heart is working harder.
Risk Factors
While in some cases there are no clear reasons for the CHD occurrence, there are risk factors in other cases.
- Genetic: In many cases, the heart defect is inherited from a parent or close family member
- Maternal illness: Certain illnesses like rubella experienced during pregnancy can cause CHD in the infant
- Mother’s medication: Certain OTC drugs or medication for ailments, such s anti-seizure or acne medicines, during pregnancy, can increase the risk of CHD in the infant. That is why it’s important to notify your doctor that you are pregnant so that medication can be changed.
- Drug abuse: Recreational drugs are taken by the mother during pregnancy increase the risk
- Alcohol abuse: During pregnancy, if the lady is consuming alcohol frequently or excessively, the risk of CHD increases several-fold.
- Maternal Health: If the lady suffers from diabetes, or does not take care of her nutrition during pregnancy, the risk of CHD increases.
- Maternal Age: Infants delivered by women, at an advanced age for childbirth, are more likely to have CHD than those born to younger women.
- Other ailments: Other ailments in the infant such as Down’s syndrome can cause malformations in the heart.
Some of the Congenital Heart Defects
There is a wide range of CHDs which affect different functions or aspects of the heart.
- Ventricular septal defect (VSD): In this condition, there is a hole in the septal wall that separates the 2 ventricles. This causes the mixing of oxygenated and impure blood. As a result, the body tissues do not get enough oxygen, so the heart works harder to pump blood.
- Atrial septal defect (ASD): Similar to ventricular septal defect, but here, the hole in the septal wall is present between the 2 upper chambers of the heart.
- Transposition of the great vessels: In a normal heart, the impure blood is sent to the lungs for purification and purified blood is sent to the body tissues for use. In the case of transposition, this process gets reversed.
- Coarctation of the aorta: In this case, the aorta which supplies purified blood to the body is narrowed down or pinched. So there is less blood being pumped, so the blood pressure in the lower part of the body is lower than normal.
- Tetralogy of Fallot: In this condition, the heart has four concurrent defects which cause mixing of pure and impure blood: a ventricular septal defect as described above, a blockage in blood flow out of the right ventricle, thickening of the wall of the right ventricle and displacement of the aorta towards the right ventricle.
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome: In this condition, the entire left side of the heart which includes the chambers, the valves, the walls, blood vessels, and part of the aorta, are all under-developed.
- Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA): In this condition, extra blood goes from the aorta into the lungs and causes flooding or congestion in the lungs.
- Atrioventricular canal (AVC): This is an abnormality of the heart structure which causes ASD, VSD, and malformation of the mitral and tricuspid valves.
- Tricuspid atresia: In this, the tricuspid valve between the right auricle and ventricle is not properly formed and the right ventricle is small in size. So not enough blood is sent to the lungs for purification.
- Pulmonary atresia: In this, the pulmonary valve between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery is not properly formed. This affects the blood flow between the two.
- Double outlet right ventricle (DORV): Here, both the aorta and the pulmonary artery are connected to the right ventricle.
- Truncus arteriosus: Here, the aorta and the pulmonary artery are fused and not properly separated out.
- Aortic stenosis (AS): Here, the aortic valve between the left ventricle and the aorta is not formed properly or is narrowed. So the heart strains to pump blood into the aorta.
Outlook
If your baby shows any of the above symptoms, do not dismiss this lightly. Rush to a reputed hospital. Such hospitals have paediatric cardiologists on their rolls. These specialists will diagnose the condition precisely and decide the best treatment or intervention for quick recovery and long-term health of the child.
Kauvery Hospital is globally known for its multidisciplinary services at all its Centers of Excellence, and for its comprehensive, Avant-Grade technology, especially in diagnostics and remedial care in heart diseases, transplantation, vascular and neurosciences medicine. Located in the heart of Trichy (Tennur, Royal Road and Alexandria Road (Cantonment), Chennai, Hosur, Salem, Tirunelveli and Bengaluru, the hospital also renders adult and pediatric trauma care.
Chennai – 044 4000 6000 • Trichy – Cantonment – 0431 4077777 • Trichy – Heartcity – 0431 4003500 • Trichy – Tennur – 0431 4022555 • Hosur – 04344 272727 • Salem – 0427 2677777 • Tirunelveli – 0462 4006000 • Bengaluru – 080 6801 6801