Congenital Heart Disorder Treatment: Advances and Approaches for a Healthy Future


 

We often hear of cardio vascular health and the need to adopt healthy habits to ensure that the heart is in good shape. While that is absolutely necessary and critical and essential in today’s times, it is important to understand that there are type of heart defects that are not caused by lifestyle or cardio vascular issues but are present from birth. Yes, that is right- some heart defects are present from birth and are called Congenital Heart Defects. 

Congenital heart defects are defects in the structure of the heart that a child is born with and impact the functioning of the heart, in turn affecting other aspects of a child’s growth and development. Congenital heart defects are of different types, depending on where the defect is and how severe it is and hence it’s manifestation varies depending on the type and severity. 

With improvements in medicine, congenital heart defect treatment is possible and in most cases the child once treated can grow upto live a near normal life. However, timely diagnosis and a timely congenital heart disorder treatment are key. 

The current approaches in treating a congenital heart defect:

The first stage of a congenital heart defect is the diagnosis. In many cases where the defect is critical, the symptoms will manifest themselves either before, at birth or right after birth. In some cases where the defect may not be very severe the defect may not manifest itself until later on in the childhood. Hence, being aware of the symptoms of a congenial heart defect is critical to be able to diagnose the same on time. 

Once detected there are many methods that can be adopted to treat the same, again depending on the severity and type of defect. Some of the common approaches used so far include the following either used in isolation or in a combination:

1) Observation: in cases where the defect is not very severe, there may not be any instant medical intervention that is needed. The child in these cases has to maintain a close connect with a qualified pediatric cardiologist and follow the advice.

2) Medications: Medications are often sued to treat some of the symptoms of the heart defect. These can be used in isolation or as a combination of other interventions. Some of these medicines include blood pressure drugs, diuretics as these reduce the water present in the body as thus ease the pressure on the heart and anti-arrhythmic drugs that help in controlling irregular heartbeat. 

3) Catheterisation: in some defects, pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons use a cather (tiny tube) that in inserted into the child usually through the groin to fix the defect. Tiny tools are sent through the Cather to fix the hole or defect in this method. This method does away with the need for an open heart surgery. 

4) Open Heart Surgery: In many cases, especially those that are critical, the pediatric cardiac surgeon has to perform an open-heart surgery to fix the defect. 

Whichever intervention is used as a congenital heart disorder treatment, it is critical to remain in constant touch with a pediatric cardiologist to ensure the best outcome for the child. This is true even after an intervention has been performed to make sure that the child is progressing will and that there are no more complications that arise. 

Advances in the treatment and management of Congenital Heart Defects: 

In the last 2-3 decades, there have been advances in the diagnosis of congenital heart disorder treatment. The use of fetal echocardiography in diagnosing heart defects during pregnancy have been a game changer as far as the diagnosis, treatment and management of heart defects are concerned. In addition, the use of the pulse oximetry system of newborn before they are discharged from the hospital has also been an important step in the diagnosis of critical CHD in early stages. This practice while common in developed nations has yet to be adopted in developing countries like India. 

With regards to advances in congenital heart defect treatment there have been some newer methods adopted for treating children born with a heart defect. 3 d printing has been an important tool enabling pediatric cardiac surgeons visualise the structure of the heart and hence pre planning the surgery as well as the availability of virtual reality and augmented reality for surgical pre-planning. These advancements coupled with improved follow up have led to positive results with babies born with congenital heart defects. 

For optimum outcomes, it is essential for children who have received a treatment for congenital heart defects to maninatin regular follow-up with the pediatric cardiologist. Once these children grow up, they need to then switch to adult cardiologist and continue with regular follow-ups for the same. 

References 

Jenkins K, et al. Congenital Heart Defects. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 Jun, 69 (22) 2733–2734.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2017.04.008

Rao PS, Agarwal A. Advances in the Diagnosis and Management of Congenital Heart Disease in Children. Children (Basel). 2022 Jul 15;9(7):1056. doi: 10.3390/children9071056. PMID: 35884040; PMCID: PMC9319796.

Rao PS, Agarwal A. Advances in the Diagnosis and Management of Congenital Heart Disease in Children. Children (Basel). 2022 Jul 15;9(7):1056. doi: 10.3390/children9071056. PMID: 35884040; PMCID: PMC9319796.

Sok-Leng Kang MD , Lee Benson MD. Interventions in Congenital Heart Disease: A Review of Recenet Developments :Part I. Volume 5, Issue 5, September–October 2021, Pages 457-465. Elsevier 


Location: United Kingdom

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