WHAT IS CONGENITAL HEART DEFECT (CHD)?

According to Prof Liesl Zühlke, a paediatric cardiologist who was part of the cardiology team that operated on Riley at Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, congenital heart defect (or CHD) affects about eight in 1 000 children in South Africa. “Congenital heart defect means that one is born with an abnormal heart or abnormal vessels in the heart,” explains Liesl. “Of these eight children, two will have a critical form of CHD that needs to be operated on in the first few months of life.”

A congenital heart defect is an abnormality that can occur in any part of the heart, including an abnormal positioning of the major vessels entering or leaving the heart, an obstruction of blood flow to the heart, an abnormality of the wall (septum) that separates the right and left sides of the heart, or detours in the blood flow.

“A congenital heart defect can be picked up at the 20-week (four-month) anomaly antenatal scan where we check if the heart has four chambers and is connected properly,” says Prof Zühlke. A “hole in the heart” usually means that there is a defect in the wall between two of the heart’s chambers. Small defects are more common than large ones and there is a high chance that the hole will shrink or close on its own during early childhood.

CHD is caused by chromosome disorders or environmental factors (for example if the mother had German measles during the early months of pregnancy). In most cases, the cause of CHD is labelled as “idiopathic” or unknown.

The type and severity of the heart condition will determine a child’s symptoms. While many children with minor defects show no symptoms at all, CHD is normally associated with excessive sweating, rapid breathing, poor growth, a blue tinge to the skin caused by poor circulation, and tiredness.

“While CHD is in no way the fault of the mother,” Prof Zühlke stresses, “we encourage women to get vaccinated against German measles before contemplating pregnancy and to ask for an anomaly scan at four months.” Additional source: Health24