Congenital heart defect can present in different ways in neonate and children, e.g babies are blue since birth, shock like state etc.
In infancies, it manifests as shortness of breath, increase sweating, difficulty in feeding, swelling on the body, blueness of fingers & lips. Few children presents as easy fatigability (tiredness), unconsciousness, chest pain, and abnormal heart beat.
Few parents came with complaints that pediatrician told them that their children are having an abnormal heart sound.
Most common acyanotic heart defect since birth is VSD (VENTRICULAR SEPTAL DEFECT, seen between lower chambers of heart). Others are ASD (Atrial septal defect, seen between upper chambers of heart), PDA (patent ductusarteriosus), AV canal defect.
Most common cyanotic heart defect is TOF (Tetralogy of Fallot), others are TAPVC, Truncusarteriosus, VSD with pulmonary atresia, Ebstein’s anomaly etc.
Others are abnormal coronary artery origin leading to heart failure also seen in children.
Above mentioned diseases can be diagnosed by child echocardiography.
With advancement of Fetal Echocardiography, most of cardiac defects can be diagnosed by this modality between 18th and 24th week of pregnancy.
Now questions arise about the treatment possibilities of these issues.
Now-a-days, with latest advancement in medical technologies, we can treat congenital heart defect by transcatheter methods (i.e. without surgery: device closure of ASD, VSD, PDA, ballooning of cardiac valves, ballooning of cardiac vessels, stenting of cardiac vessels etc). Few defects are cured by surgical means only.
With early diagnosis and proper treatment of these cardiac defects, we can save many of lives of children.