Heart Disorders in Newborns

Heart disorders in newborns are quite common in today’s world.  The data presented by American Heart Association show that nine in every thousand babies born in the US have congenital heart defects. However, majority of these congenital heart defects are harmless in nature; only a few among them are dangerous and needs to be corrected through surgeries.

Certain congenital heart defects force the blood towards the baby’s lungs through the left- right shunt patterns. A baby with this heart defect receives oxygenated blood in the right of his heart; as a result of this the oxygenated blood gets mixed with deoxygenated blood. The heart defect thus caused is medically referred to as obstructive defects or acyanotic heart lesion. Other congenital heart problems occur due to the right-left movements of the baby’s blood. The medical terms used for these heart problems are: blue baby syndrome or cyanotic defect. A baby with this kind of heart problem suffers from reduced oxygenation of their blood; the infant’s body might turn blue due to this reduction of oxygenation of blood. The malformations discussed above are extremely serious and might even cause death of the baby.

Why does a newborn develop heart disorders? Majority of the congenital heart problems occur as a result of disturbances in the development of the fetus between the 3rd and 12th week of pregnancy. A newborn might also suffer from heart problems due to certain chromosomal abnormalities. Chromosomal abnormalities can be defined as random mutation of genetics of the fetus resulting in congenital defects, which also include heart problems.

The other risk factors of congenital heart problems are maternal factors and family history. The maternal factors resulting in congenital heart diseases might include rubella virus affecting the expecting mother and use of prescription drugs like carbamazepine, phenytoin, trimethadione, valproic acid and other anticonvulsants, antipsychotic agents like lithium, pimple reducing medications like isoretinon during the initial 3 months of pregnancy. Babies of pregnant women with medical conditions like uncontrolled diabetes, phenylketonuria and lupus are also at risk of developing congenital heart diseases. Pregnant women with smoking habit or those who are victims of drug and alcohol abuse are also susceptible towards giving birth to babies with heart disorders. Babies having a family history of cardiac problems are 50% higher risk of having congenital heart defects.

An infant suffering from congenital heart disorder may or may not show symptoms. The common signs of heart problems in newborns are: breathing problems, failure in thriving, low energy levels, hypotension, low appetite, a persistent fever and a bluish shade on the skin, especially in the extremities and the region surrounding the lips (this condition is medically termed as cyanosis). Generally, physicians successfully identify presence of congenital heart problems right after the baby’s birth through distinctive sounds called heart murmurs in the baby.

There are several instances, when the congenital heart diseases start improving without any treatment. However, majority of the cases of congenital heart diseases are serious and needs to be treated through surgical procedures or medications or a combination of both. The medications prescribed to patients with these heart problems include diuretics; the diuretics help the baby to eliminate salts, water and digoxin. This strengthens contraction of the baby’s heart and slows down his heartbeat. Strengthened contraction of heart also helps in removing some portion of fluid from the tissues. Surgery is prescribed to babies with congenital heart defects for restoring proper blood circulation; some babies might need to undergo multiple surgeries for eliminating all the birth defects in their heart. With advancement in medical science, a number of surgical methods have been discovered in the last few years. One such method is interventional cardiology. Interventional cardiology can be defined as the branch of cardiology, which deals particularly with catheter based treatments for correcting structural defects of heart. This process is less invasive compared to all other surgical procedures used for treating heart defects. Now, a device closure can be performed using the standard transcatheter method, which includes use of closure devices that stay mounted on balloon catheters.

When a baby is diagnosed with congenital heart disease, he will need special cardiac care all through his life. During the initial years of his life, the baby should be monitored by an experienced pediatric cardiologist and as he grows older, he must be supervised and treated by adult congenital cardiologists.