What are congenital heart diseases?

Congenital heart defects are lesions of one or more cardiac chambers, the partitions that separate them or the valves or outflow tracts. They are congenital in origin, i.e. from birth, although their causes are unknown. There are different types of congenital heart disease, some of which are mild and others more serious, with a guarded prognosis.

Eight out of every 1000 newborns suffer from congenital heart disease. Undiagnosed congenital heart disease can be a serious problem and, with a diseased heart, the situation of the baby at birth can be very complicated, as it can change rapidly and become more serious within a few hours or days. However, at present, medical detection of heart disease is carried out during fetal life or in the first days, weeks or months after birth. In this way, these pathologies can be detected early and the necessary treatment can be planned. The vast majority of these pathologies can be surgically corrected definitively or almost definitively, allowing the child to have as normal a life as possible. If the cardiac lesion is not treated, it can be a problem for the future, shortening life expectancy.

When do congenital heart defects appear?

As early as the 6th week of pregnancy, the fetus has a fully developed heart, so congenital heart disease can already be detected during this week. However, not all congenital heart defects develop at this time. Sometimes they can manifest days, weeks, months or years after birth, however, the origin is also congenital since the tendency that generates the heart disease was already present at birth. For this reason, check-ups with the pediatric cardiologist during the first months of life are very important.

There are heart diseases that cannot be detected during pregnancy, as they appear later, and there are others that during fetal life are very mild and cannot be detected during this period.

What are the causes of heart disease?

The exact cause of heart disease is currently unknown, although it is possible that many of them are due to genetic alterations that have not yet been identified.

There are also risk factors that may favor a child with heart disease: parents under 18 and over 35 years of age, family history of congenital heart disease, chromosomal alterations, maternal factors of diabetes, alcoholism, lupus, phenylketonuria and rubella during pregnancy; intake of drugs during pregnancy such as amphetamines, hydantoin, thymethadione, lithium and thalidomideā€¦.

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Is it possible for both children to have congenital heart disease?

One of the most frequently asked questions is whether a second child is likely to suffer from congenital heart diseaseā€¦ is it worth the risk?

According to the latest studies, the genetic factor is not very relevant in congenital heart disease and in our medical practice it is difficult to find two siblings with this pathology. In addition, parents often feel guilty about their childā€™s heart disease, however, in most cases the pregnancies have been well controlled and there have been no additional problems. Therefore, in practice, the occurrence of heart disease is, in most cases, a matter of chance.

In other words, the answer is simple: Yes, it is worth trying, since the risk does not exceed 4-5% of cases. However, in these cases it is always advisable to seek genetic counseling or statistical calculation, based on multiple factors of the couple.

What is the incidence of congenital heart disease?

As we have already mentioned, congenital heart disease occurs in 8 out of every 1,000 newborns in the general population. This means a total of 5,000 children born each year with some type of heart disease. Most of these are mild heart diseases that disappear spontaneously with time. However, around 2,000 children are operated on each year in our country, and at least 6,500 children in Europe, because of congenital heart disease.

Sometimes a functional murmur can be confused with congenital heart disease. The murmur is a murmur detected by auscultation of the heart with a stethoscope, caused by vibrations of the cardiac walls or internal structures, in otherwise normal hearts in the vast majority of cases. These murmurs disappear spontaneously during adolescence and are not considered heart disease. Therefore, they do not require treatment nor do they present impediments to normal life or the practice of sports.