HEART disease is not only a condition associated with advancing years and lifestyle choices. Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) refers to cardiac problems that develop while a baby is still forming.
From six weeks of gestation, the heart grows into a beautifully formed but complex organ with four chambers and valves between these to ensure blood flows in the correct direction. Veins deliver deoxygenated or spent blood to the right side of the heart, which pumps it through the lungs where it receives oxygen. From here it travels to the left side of the heart and out through the main artery, the aorta, to supply the tissues of the body.
Complications range in severity from something so mild it may only be picked up in adulthood, through to something only remedied by a heart transplant.
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The first time CHD may be detected is at the 20 week scan. The seriousness of the condition will determine the level of medical input needed, which may necessitate procedures before birth and delivery in a dedicated unit.
In certain circumstances you may decide not to continue the pregnancy, and will be supported throughout.
Congenital heart disease affects roughly eight in every 1,000 babies born with 25 per cent with critical CHD.
The treatment of congenital heart disease is highly specialised with dedicated cardiologists, surgeons, nurses and other health professionals. Although some conditions, like small holes between chambers, may simply be monitored, some babies will need treatments and operations, some commencing in the first few days of life.
CHD not picked up at the 20 week scan may be found when a baby is examined after delivery or at the six week check.
The treatment of CHD has made rapid strides in the last 40 years, from a position where the majority of babies did not make their first birthday, to where eight in ten are reaching adulthood.
The physical and psychological burden of congenital heart disease on the individual and family should not be underestimated. All treatments and support have the aim of improving quality of life and alleviating suffering, so the child, parents and any siblings can enjoy as normal an existence as possible.
Current research is focussing on the genes that cause CHD, with the hope that successful identification of these will eventually make congenital heart disease a thing of the past.
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