There is a great vessel in heart known as aorta which supplies pure blood to different parts of the body.
Aorta is having a valve at its origin.
When there is an obstruction either at the level of valve, below or above the valve, it is known as valvular, subvalvular or supravalvular aortic stenosis respectively.
The most common etiology of aortic valve obstruction in neonates and is bicuspid aortic valve.
Child presentation depends on age of the child and severity of the obstruction.
If newborn babies are having severe variety of aortic stenosis then they are generally in shock due to low perfusion to the body.
In mild form, children are asymptomatic and illness is detected on routine examination by a child doctor by hearing an abnormal heart sound in the form of murmur on clinical examination.
As severity of obstruction increases, child presents with early tiredness, decrease exercise tolerance, chest pain, loss of consciousness (syncope) and in later stages with shortness of breath (dyspnea due to heart failure) and rarely sudden cardiac death.
Best modality for detection of aortic stenosis is by ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY.
Dr Gaurav Agrawal is a Pediatric Cardiologist (Child and Fetal heart Specialist). Dr Agrawal is a pediatrician who has specialized training in the treatment of various child heart related problems (neonates to 18 years of age). He is also having a vast experience in fetal echocardiography.
He is one of the very few pediatricians in India who practices pediatric cardiology exclusively. Cardiac problems in children are common in children, sometimes life threating and often not diagnosed properly. Early diagnosis and timely treatment is very important. Areas of specific interest include child echocardiography including fetal echocardiography, diagnostic and therapeutic cardiac catheterization (pediatric cardiac holes closure by device, opening of obstructed cardiac valves by balloons etc).