Imagine giving birth to a beautiful, healthy looking, baby girl and holding her in your arms for the first time. Now imagine a doctor telling you that this little miracle has a possible life threatening congenital heart defect. I can because this happened to me. My daughter suffers from three different congenital heart defects. According to the American Medical Association Family Medical Guide, about 8 out of every 1,000 children are born with heart abnormalities, or congenital heart defects.( AMAFMG p. 389) The 4 most recurring defects are Pulmonary Stenosis, Aortic Stenosis, Atrial Septal Defect and Ventricular Septal Defect. ( Radiologic Technology 2008)…
A congenital heart defect (CHD) is an abnormality in the structure or function of the heart. This can include circumstances that affect the walls of the organ, blood vessels that transport blood to and from it, and the valves that regulate blood flow. Some CHDs are minor, and cause no noticeable symptoms. Others are severe, and can place the patient's life at risk.…
it is not secluded to one geographic location. However this incidence is increased in those…
They may present with a number of types of congenital heart disease (e.g. atrial septic defect, ventricular septal defect, or patent ductus arteriosus) Children with the syndrome might have a hernia, abnormalities of their urogenital system, malformed kidneys, or undescended testicles if they are male.…
Aortic Valve Stenosis is the narrowing or obstruction of the heart 's aortic valve. The aorta is a large artery that originates in the left ventricle (lower chamber) of the heart. The narrowing and obstruction of the aortic valve prevents it from opening properly and blocks the flow of blood from the left ventricle to the aorta and onward towards the rest of the body. Aortic valve stenosis occurs in approximately 5 out of every 10,000 people.1 It occurs more commonly in males than females. Symptoms do not often appear until middle age or older.…
Note: continue through both sides of the heart. Include forward failure and backward failure in your discussion…
Other names are known as: congenital heart defects, cyanotic heart disease, heart defects and congenital cardiovascular malformations. Whenever a baby is born, the baby has a 0.8% chance of getting a congenital heart disease. A baby that is born with the disease and has a very slim chance of dying from the disease if it is found early. The heart has an interruption in its normal blood flow circulation. The blood may move in the opposite direction, be blocked, or even go to the completely wrong place. Heart diseases are very serious and need to be watched closely when spotted (Congenital Heart Defects: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment)…
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website, every 4.5 minutes, a baby is born with a birth defect in the United States. That means 120,000 babies are affected by birth defects each year. Many of these birth defects affect any part of the body including: brain, foot, heart, vision and many more. Many can affect the way you look, or the proper function of your body or both. Two major birth defects that affect infants are Omphalocele and Spina Bifida . Omphalocele is a type of hernia. This is when the liver and other abdominal organs stick out of the belly button (naval). According to the CDC, approximately 775 (1 out of every 5,386) babies are born with omphalocele each year in the U.S. Depending on how severe the hernia is, different procedures are taken. There are many forms of treatment to get rid of this hernia and to prevent any further complications. Spina Bifida is a condition that affects the spine and is usually visible at birth. It is a type of neural tube defect (NTD). Spina Bifida affects 4000 pregnancies each year in the U.S. which is an average of 11 pregnancies per day making it 1 out of every 1000 newborns in the U.S. born with this defect. These two medical conditions are major birth defects that affect a child each minute making it important to know how to treat it after knowing the infant is born with a defect.…
MRKH is a rare condition found in approximately 1 in 5000 female births, and it is typically diagnosed in mid-adolescence (Leidolf, 2006). The psychosexual development and the identity, femininity, body image and self-esteem of the patients can be significantly impaired by receiving this type of information about their bodies (Laggari, et al., 2009). Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome is a condition that involves congenital absence of the vagina, fallopian tubes, cervix and/ or uterus. Some women have uterine remnants, or horns. External genitalia are normal. Chromosome karyotype is 46XX(normal female). The incidence rate is approximately one in 5000. Other symptoms involved to varying degrees are kidney abnormalities, skeletal…
The heart is the organ that helps supply blood and oxygen to all parts of the body. It is divided by a partition or septum into two halves, and the halves are in turn divided into four chambers. The heart is situated within the chest cavity and surrounded by a fluid filled sac called the pericardium. This amazing muscle produces electrical impulses that cause the heart to contract, pumping blood throughout the body. The heart and the circulatory system together form the cardiovascular system.…
Tricuspid atresia is a type of congenital heart defect in which the tricuspid valve between the right atrium and ventricle did not form. Instead, there is a solid wall of tissue between the two chambers. When this occurs, the blood is unable to flow through the heart and to the lungs to receive oxygen as it normally would do. As a result, the baby’s lungs are unable to supply the rest of her body with the oxygen it requires to function properly.…
Complete atrioventricular canal defect (CAVC) is a heart condition in which there is a large hole in the center of the heart and only one heart valve. Normally, the heart is divided into four chambers, and there is one valve on each side of the heart. The chambers on the right side of the heart receive blood from the body and pump it to the lungs where the blood gets oxygen. The chambers on the left side of the heart get the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and pump it back out to the body. In CAVC, the blood in the chambers mix, and the heart valve may not close tightly. This makes the heart work much harder than normal.…
Congenital heart defects in children are frightening conditions that are yet to be understood fully by cardiologists (Mayo Clinic). Ranging from a benign murmur to complete cardiac arrest, congenital heart defects are important disorders to be educated about (Fulton). Because of the potential severity of these illnesses, one should understand what is thought to cause this, forms of it, the risk involved, precautionary measures, and what the prognosis is. By having a comprehensive view on the topic, parents, teachers, health care professionals, and day care providers can have the knowledge to recognize signs and symptoms of congenital heart defects in children and treat them accordingly (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute). By having a well-rounded view of this condition, prevention and action can be taken (Fulton).…
Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is a chronic heart condition that accounts for approximately 2% of all cardiovascular mortalities worldwide. It is most prevalent in developing countries where the actual disease burden is higher due to overcrowding, poverty and the lack of sufficient health care. The indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand, Africa and south-central Asia are at the greatest risk of suffering this disease. “The average annual incidence of acute rheumatic fever in children aged 5-15 years is 15.2 cases per 100,000 population in Fiji[2] compared with 3.4 cases per 100,000 population in New Zealand,[3] and it less than 1 case per 100,000 population in the United States.”…
One out of thirty-three babies is born with a birth defect. A birth defect is an abnormal development of the fetus resulting in death, malformation, growth retardation, and functional disorders. ”If a baby is born with a part of their body missing or malformed, it is referred to as a structural birth defect. Heart defects are the most common types.” (Healthline) “In 1979-89, according to the CDC, there were thirty-eight different types of birth defects, twenty-seven of them were increased, nine stayed the same, and only two were decreased.” (Gupta) ”Now, there are more than 4,000 different kinds of birth defects, ranging from minor ones that need no treatment, to serious ones that require medical or surgical treatment.” (Gupta)…