What is CHD?

Congenital heart defect means a child is born with an abnormally structured heart and/or large vessels. Such hearts may have incomplete or missing parts, may be put together the wrong way, may have holes between chamber partitions or may have narrow or leaky valves or narrow vessels. There are many types of congenital heart defects, ranging from those that pose a relatively small threat to the health of the child to those that require immediate surgery. There are more than 40 different types of heart defects.

More bad news about CHD :

More than 50% of babies that are born with a congenital heart defect will require at least one invasive surgery in their lifetime and that cost per year for CHD surgeries exceeds 2 billion dollars. In the United States twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. Only one penny of every dollar donated to the American Heart Association goes toward congenital heart defect research. For every dollar provided by the National Institute of Health (NIH), only one penny is provided for pediatric research. Only a portion of that penny goes to support research on CHD's. Congenital heart defects are common and deadly, yet CHD research is grossly under-funded relative to the prevalence of the disease. We must raise awareness of the need for funding for CHD research. This year approximately 4,000 babies will not live to see their first birthday because of Congenital Heart Defects.

Common Heart Defects:

Common types of congenital heart defects, which can affect any part of the heart or its surrounding structures, include:

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA): Before birth, a large artery (ductus arteriosus) lets the blood bypass the lungs because the fetus gets its oxygen through the placenta. The ductus normally closes soon after birth so that blood can travel to the lungs and pick up oxygen. If it doesn't close, the baby may develop heart failure. This problem occurs most frequently in premature babies. Treatment with medicine during the early days of life often can close the ductus. If that doesn't work, surgery is needed.

Septal defect: This is a hole in the wall (septum) that divides the right and left sides of the heart. A hole in the wall between the heart's two upper chambers is called an atrial septal defect, while a hole between the lower chambers is called a ventricular septal defect. These defects can cause the blood to circulate improperly, so the heart has to work harder. Some atrial septal defects can be repaired without surgery by inserting a thin, flexible tube into the heart and then releasing a device that plugs the hole. A surgeon also can close an atrial or ventricular septal defect by sewing or patching the hole. Small holes may heal by themselves or not need repair at all.

Coarctation of the aorta: Part of the aorta, the large artery that sends blood from the heart to the rest of the body, may be too narrow for the blood to flow evenly. A surgeon can cut away the narrow part and sew the open ends together, replace the constricted section with man-made material, or patch it with part of a blood vessel taken from elsewhere in the body. Sometimes, this narrowed area can be widened by inflating a balloon on the tip of a catheter (tube) inserted through an artery.

Heart valve abnormalities: Some babies are born with heart valves that do not close normally or are narrowed or blocked, so blood can't flow smoothly. Surgeons usually can repair the valves or replace them with man-made ones. Balloons on catheters also are frequently used to fix faulty valves.

Tetralogy of Fallot: This combination of four heart defects keeps some blood from getting to the lungs. As a result, the blood that is pumped to the body may not have enough oxygen. Affected babies have episodes of cyanosis and may grow poorly. This defect is usually surgically repaired in the early months of life.

Transposition of the great arteries: Transposition occurs when the positions of the two major arteries leaving the heart are reversed, so that each arises from the wrong pumping chamber. Affected newborns suffer from severe cyanosis due to a lack of oxygen in the blood. Recent surgical advances make it possible to correct this serious defect in the newborn period.

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome: This combination of defects results in a left ventricle (the heart's main pumping chamber) that is too small to support life. Without treatment, this defect is usually fatal in the first few weeks of life. However, over the last 25 years, survival rates have dramatically improved with new surgical procedures and, less frequently, heart transplants