How to detect & diagnose Congenital Heart Disease in Children? -

Congenital means Existing at the birth Congenital Heart Disease in Children is caused when a child is born

Congenital means existing at birth, Congenital Heart Disease in children is caused when a child is born with an irregular heart structure or defects in the heart.

The news that a child is suffering from congenital heart disease (CHD) will make you sorrowful.

But one must know all the detailed information on congenital heart disease in infants, which is provided in this article.

Do you know?

Every year 1.35 million babies are born with congenital heart disease.
25% of Kids within the age of 2 years may need to undergo surgery.
1-3% of children develop Atrioventricular (AV) block due to CHD surgery.

How do heart defects grow in children or infants?

When a woman is pregnant, during the first 6 months, the heart takes shape and starts beating.

The blood vessels present in the heart also start growing. This is the root cause of causing heart defects in various heart parts.

Categories of Congenital Heart Disease in Congenital Heart Defects in Children:

Congenital Heart Disease, which is generally known as congenital heart defect,t has been classified into two types as below.

Cyanotic:

Fallot’s tetralogy.
Transposition of the great arteries.
Tricuspid atresia: A complete absence of the tricuspid valve, an ASD must be present to maintain blood flow.
Total anomalous pulmonary venous return: all four pulmonary veins are malpositioned and make anomalous connections to the systemic venous circulation.
Persistent truncus arteriosus.
Hypoplastic left heart: the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.
Pulmonary atresia: the pulmonary valve is completely closed and the only source of pulmonary blood flow is a PDA.
Ebstein’s anomaly.

Non-cyanotic:

Ventricular septal defect (VSD).
Atrial septal defect (ASD).
Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)
Aortic stenosis.
Pulmonic stenosis.
Coarctation of the aorta.
Atrioventricular canal defect

Types of congenital heart defects:

Few children are born with simple and normal problems, and few are born with the serious and complex problem.

The below-listed problems are generally seen in Congenital Heart Defects in Children, respectively, as said by the best cardiologist in Hyderabad, India.

Holes in heart: Holes can form either in between the heart walls or blood vessels in the heart.

These holes allow oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood to flow through the heart and other body parts. The blood mixture, which is passed through all the body parts, contains very little oxygen and leads to blue skin color.

Blood flow blockage: This happens when blood vessels or heart valves are narrow, and this leads to harder blood pumping to the heart. In this,s there are two types:

Pulmonary stenosis: This occurs when blood flows from the right ventricle to the lungs because the valve in the artery is too narrow for the proper functionality.
Aortic stenosis: This occurs when the aortic valve allows blood flow from the left ventricle to the full body is too narrow to allow the blood to flow, which makes the heart work very hard, ultimately making the heart thicker and enlarging the heart.

Abnormal blood vessels: This happens when blood vessels are not formed correctly, which helps in blood flow to the heart.

Transposition of the great arteries: It is the condition caused by the abnormal blood vessels. It occurs when the pulmonary artery and the aorta are positioned on the wrong side of the heart.
Coarctation of the aorta: It is caused by high blood pressure. It occurs when a blood vessel, which supplies blood to the heart, is too narrow to flow.
Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection: It is a defect that occurs when blood vessels from the lungs are linked to the wrong position in the heart.

Abnormalities in heart valves: These abnormalities include the closing of heart valves, which stops blood flow.

Immature development of heart: Some parts of the heart fail to develop because of this defect.

Combinational defects: Many infants or children are born with several defects.

Tetralogy of Fallot is a combination of four defects, namely a hole in the wall between the heart’s ventricles, a narrowed passage between the right ventricle and pulmonary artery, a shift in the connection of the aorta to the heart, and thickened muscle in the right ventricle.

Risk factors for congenital heart disease in children:

According to the best Interventional cardiologist, there are various risk factors which cause congenital heart defects, and some are the root causes.

Some of the major and important risk factors are listed below.

Diabetes: A pregnant mother with diabetes will create CHD in their baby or the adult with congenital heart defects will have severe effects of diabetes.
Rubella: German measles, rubella is a virus which, if spread in the body, leads to congenital heart defects in the infants.
Medications: Consuming a larger number of medications either in a pregnant woman or adult person will increase the risk of CHD.
Smoking: A Person with smoking habits during the pregnancy increases the chance of CHD among newborn babies. As smoking damages the baby’s body and heart with the chemicals present in it.
Heredity: Few newborn babies are affected with congenital heart disease due to the heredity among their family members.
Alcohol: Alcohol consumption among parents without any limits affects kids, infants, and babies.

Other Complications:

The risk of infective endocarditis.
Failure to thrives
Difficulty in joining the games and sports among children.
Causes polycythemia due to cyanosis, a hemoglobin increases more than 20g/dL and results in blood difficulty.

Symptoms of Congenital Heart Disease :

According to medical and health, every CHD-affected kid as seen any of the below signs and symptoms during their infant and child days.

Complex Congenital heart defects: These problems start either from the time of birth or after a few months of birth. The main signs and symptoms include the following.

Blue skin color or Pale grey color.
Rapid breathing without any pause.
Burn nostrils.
Swelling in the legs, abdomen, around eyes.
Poor gain weight.

Normal Congenital heart defects: These sorts of diseases may not be treated in early childhood. They can be treated when a child has grown up. The signs may not have any noticeable problems. If they can be identified in older age, below may be included.

Breathing problems during exercise or activity.
Rapid tiredness.
Swelling in the hands, ankles, and feet.

General Signs of congenital heart disease in babies:

Heart murmur
Abnormal heart sounds
Fast breathing
Poor feeding
Very little Weight gain
Excessive sweating

Tests for Congenital heart disease:

There are different tests for the congenital heart defects depending upon the age. Here are a few tests for the congenital heart disease in newborns prescribed generally by the Cardiologist according to the research.

Cardiac catheterization: It is used to obtain a detailed view of a child’s heart. In this test, a thin and flexible tube is inserted into a child’s heart and through blood vessels.
Chest X-Ray: It is used to check heart size as to whether it is enlarged or not. It is processed by taking a simple x-ray of the heart.
Echocardiogram: It is used to diagnose the congenital defect after an infant is born. Ultrasound is performed to check heart motion and sounds along with the identification of the abnormalities of the child’s heart.
Electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG): It is used to record the electrical activity of the heart. It helps in the diagnosis of the heart rhythm, is any problem is formed. Waves are printed through the Electrodes, which are placed on the baby’s chest, are connected to the computer and printer.
Fetal Echocardiogram: It helps in detecting any sort of heart defect when the child is in the mother’s womb i.e. before the child is born, defects can be identified.
Pulse oximetry: It measures the oxygen content present in the child’s blood. Through a sensor, oxygen content can be identified and recorded. The less oxygen, can lead to heart defects.

Treatments for Congenital Heart Defects in Children and small babies:

Here is the list of treatments provided by the best cardiologist in Hyderabad, India for the heart defects faced by infants, children and kids.

Procedures using catheterization
Open-heart surgery
Heart transplant
Medications
Lifelong monitoring and treatment
Exercise restrictions
Infection prevention

Prevention:

Many congenital heart defects are not preventable. But here are a few tips which help in preventing it.
Avoid drugs and alcohol consumption during pregnancy, which may prevent congenital disease.
Avoid rubella syndrome by taking the vaccination to prevent congenital disease in children and infants.
Avoid contact with organic solvents such as the chemicals used in dry cleaning, paint thinners, nail polish remover, etc.
Keep yourself away from viral infections during pregnancy, especially infections related to the upper respiratory tract.
Congenital heart anomalies can be diagnosed during pregnancy before delivery time through an antenatal scan.
During the pregnancy period, every woman should take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day.

Growth Development tips for the Congenital Heart Defects in Children:

Nutrition needs: Nutritional issues affect more children with CHD compared to a normal child. Few of the issues may include:

The heart pumping should be much faster to meet the kid’s needs.
More stress on the kids’ mind and body due to CHD.
Lack of oxygen levels in the body.
Rapid tiredness in the kid.
Due to very little oxygen, kids may not observe nutrients as per normal kids.

Pubescence Growth: Many advanced treatments are found by many scientists around the world. They might be cured, but the issues related to this CHD may be serious and affect a kid’s life as they grow up. The issues may include the following:

The confidence of being independent
Choosing college and career
Getting into marriage
Having an own family
Pregnancy difficulties
Health and Life insurance disapprovals
Traveling around by themselves
Relocation whenever there is a need

Development forethoughts: The following reasons include the development issues in every kid affected by the congenital heart disease:

Lack of energy in the kid will lead to an immature growth of body parts such as the brain, muscles, bones and nerve system.
Continuous illness and frequent hospitalization will make a kid more depressed.
Genetic problems related to heart defects and diseases will reduce kid’s development according to the age.

Keep Active: Keep kids and children active through the daily routines, and make them happy mentally and physically.

Activities such as exercise, walking, dancing or other activities that include physical activities.
Best cardiologist in Apollo Hyderabad, Yashoda Hospital, MaxCure hospital doctors suggest that at least a kid should be involved in half an hour of exercise, which can be split and performed at multiple intervals.
Consult doctors before you start any sort of exercise with the kids, as some children’s bodies may not support the more physical activity.

Sleep: When children sleep peacefully, they will be active.

The amount of sleep a kid should get depends on the age.
But a minimum 8-9 hours sleep is recommended by the doctors to any human.
Never exceed the limit of watching TV or using a computer at night times.

Foods and other factors for the congenital heart disease in newborns and kids:

It is recommended to follow a proper diet and food for the CHD-affected kids. This will make them positively grow in every aspect. Few foods and minerals are provided below.

Remember always to either feed or eat any sort of food in limited quantity and prefer only organic, nature-friendly and healthy food.

Dairy products:

Add more content of high-calorie milk in the child’s food. Breastfeeding is prioritized and recommended.
Add low-fat cheese and other dairy products.

Tube Feeding:

Increase tube feedings. Tube feedings can be either supplements or daily food routines. Tube feeding is generally processed through the tube connected from the nose. Food should be passed through the nose to the esophagus to the stomach. Sometimes a tube may be inserted directly into the stomach depending upon the kid’s criticality on a disease.

High-Calorie foods:

High-calorie foods and snacks are more preferred as they provide a good number of supplements to the body.

Fruits:

Any type of fruit is suitable for the kids affected with congenital heart disease.
Add plenty of fruit juices every day. Do not use any extra or added sugars in the juice.

Proteins:

Protein-rich content is very good for health and increases the potential energy in the body.
Protein foods such as meat, fish, poultry, nuts, beans, have a high amount of protein and other minerals.

Foods to be avoided:

Stop providing a high content of sugar products.
Avoid cool drinks.
Stop feeding junk foods.
Never allow your child to eat fast foods or saturated foods.
Avoid high-fat content foods.
Always prefer organic and healthy foods.

Diet Tips for children with heart defects in babies:

The useless content of sodium or salt in the food
Avoid an excess amount of sugar
Never keep your kid’s stomach empty.
Feed the child for every little time gap.
Use whole grains instead of refined grains
Use low-fat or non-fat products
Always maintain a balanced diet.
Use vegetable oil instead of refined oil.
Eat more amounts of fish and other protein-rich food.
Encourage organic and home food.

Side effects of congenital heart disease in infants:

The below side effects are listed by the best cardiologist surgeon based on their experience they had in treating the CHD-affected infants.

The kid may look thinner, younger, compared to normal kids of the same age.
Child’s height and weight may be very less than the other children of the same age.
The development process will be slower than that of other healthy kids.
Special training for daily routines such as toilet, sitting, walking, etc., may be required for the CHD affected kids.
No content of proteins, minerals, vitamins and other nutritional food even after a high amount of nutrition consumption.

Challenges faced because of Congenital Heart disease in children by the parents:

Learning more specialized parenting skills to handle the kid.
Becoming an expert and a self-learner to know in detail about the kids’ condition.
Problem-solving capabilities faced every day.
More concern and an increase in the safety of the child.
Handling and struggling for the financial stability.
Making time and maintaining a proper schedule for the regular medical check-ups of the child.

Nowadays, technology and treatment have improved, we have many treatment options for the Congenital Heart disease.

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Author’s Bio: Ashreetha Pendkar is a Healthcare writer, trainer and Digital marketing expert, she loves to read healthcare content and spreading her words about the importance of health to near & dear.