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Congenital Heart
Disease or Defects (CHD)
Congenital Heart defects are one of the most common birth
defects seen in babies. Approximately One baby in 100 births
will have a heart defect. Babies born with Carrots (VATER)
usually have more than one heart defect.
Some of the most common types of birth defects of the
heart in kids with Carrots are Patent Ductus Arteriosis (PDA)
Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD),
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), Transposition of the arteries,
Dextro-cardia, Coarctation of the aorta, Hypoplastic Left
Heart Syndrome and others.
A baby can have one of these congenital heart defects
(CHD) or a baby can have multiple congenital heart anomalies
(MCHA) more than one heart defect.
Having multiple congenital heart defects
does not necessarily mean that these birth defects of the
heart are life threatening. A baby can be born with an atrial
septal defect (ASD) and a ventricular septal defect (VSD)
of the heart and not have problems.
Atrial septal Defect (ASD) and Ventricular Septal
defects (VSD) are holes in the wall of the heart and in
some cases close on their own in time with no surgical intervention
or operation needed to correct them.
Both ASD and VSD are usually discovered when a doctor
listens to a child's heart with a stethescope and an echocardiogram.
The sound of the heart usually tells the doctor if the heart
is pumping blood correctly.
There are many sounds that a doctor listens for with a stethescope
such as a back flow of blood into different chambers of
the heart. It is similar to when you whistle.
When you whistle you make a round shape with your
lips and blow air out between your lips and you hear one
sound and when you whistle by sucking in you hear another
sound. This is what a doctor listens for and it is usually
a sound of the back flow of blood, or a sloshing of blood
or an abnormal beating or rhythm of the heart.
The doctor will also listen for the normal sounds
the heart makes such as lub-dub-lub-dub which is the closing
and opening of heart muscle as it pushes blood through the
different parts of the heart. The doctor will listen for
the number of times the heart beats and listen to hear if
this beating of the heart has a constant rhythm to it.
If there is an interruption or pause between each beat or
after each beat of the heart this may tell the doctor there
is something wrong with the heart because it is not normal
in most cases for the heart to not have a constant
rhythm or beat to it.
The normal heart is made up of four chambers.
Two upper chambers called the right and left atriums and
two lower chambers called the right and left ventricles.
If you have an atrial septal defect (ASD) you have a defect
in the upper chamber of the heart and if you have a ventricular
septal defect (VSD) you have defect in the lower chamber
of the heart.
The two upper chambers the right and left atrium of the
heart are like a reservoir that collect the blood as it
flows back to the heart. A reservoir is a place like your
bath tub that holds water till you empty it into a lower
place down the drain.
From these upper chambers of the heart called the right
and left atriums the blood flows into the two lower parts
of the heart chambers called the right and left ventricles.
The right and left ventricles which pump blood (lub-dub
sound of the heart) with each heart beat into the main two
arteries the pulmonary artery and the aorta.
The pumping of blood on the right side of the heart is done
by the pulmonary artery which takes the blood for circulation
through the lungs. The pumping of blood on the left side
of the heart is done by the other main artery the aorta.
The aorta carries blood to the rest of the body.
The right and left ventricles and the right and left atrium
of the heart are separated by partitions called septums.
(Think of a partition like the walls in a house separating
two rooms.) The partition between the right atrium and the
left atrium are called ATRIAL SEPTUM (AS). The partition
between the right and left ventricles are called VENTRICULAR
SEPTUM (VS).
Blood flows in two directions. Away from the heart and back
to the heart. Blood is carried away from the heart by arteries
and back to the heart by veins. This is how the blood circulates
throughout the body and is called blood circulation or the
circulatory system of blood.
The blood is also described as being blue blood or red blood.
Blue blood is not oxygenated and red blood is oxygenated.
Its almost like saying when ever we breathe in, we help
turn blue blood into red blood, and when we breathe out
we turn red blood into blue blood. So we need to keep this
cycle going of breathing in and breathing out.
The dark (blue) blood returning to the right atrium from
the body and its organs is through the two large main veins
called the SUPERIOR VENA CAVA (SVA) and the INFERIOR VENA
CAVA (IVA) and is pumped by the right ventricle to the lungs
for oxygen replenishment.
The dark blue blood now becomes a bright red blood in the
lungs because the oxygen has been replaced or put back in
by the lungs. The red blood returns through the two main
veins from each lung to the left atrium (upper chamber)
and then is pumped by the left ventricle (lower chamber)
back to the body again. This process continues for as long
as the heart and the body continue to function.
When we breathe in, we breathe in air that is an invisible
gas called oxygen. This oxygen we breathe in goes in our
body starting at the opening in our nose or mouth, down
our trachea and into the lungs.
The lungs are where the blood that is continually
circulating throughout the body picks up the oxygen we breathe
and circulates this re-oxygenated blood over and over throughout
the body to keep all of the organs working the way they
are suppose to.
Every time we breathe in oxygen goes into our lungs. This
oxygen is picked up by the blood, and the blood continues
transporting oxygenated blood throughout the body over and
over till the heart stops working or we stop breathing.
There are four heart valves that control the blood flow
or circulation throughout the heart. The four heart valves
are the aortic valve, the mitral valve, the pulmonary valve
and the tricuspid valve. The four valves all have two or
three flaps that swing open to allow the blood to flow through
each time the heart beats and then these flaps swing back
together to stop or prevent the blood flow from going in
a backward or wrong direction. We don't want blood to back
flow.
The tricuspid valve and the mitral valve are situated at
the junction of the upper heart chambers, the right and
left atriums with the lower heart chambers the right and
left ventricles at the origin of the major arteries from
the ventricles, the pulmonary valve and the aortic valve.
Just a brief note: The tricuspid valve and the mitral valve
are called the Atrio-ventricular Valves, and the Pulmonary
valve and the Aortic valve are called Arterial Valves.
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TEF/Vater®
International
is
a nonprofit organization founded by Greg and Terri Burke after their daughter,
Jaclyn, was born with esophageal atresia in 1990. To those children,
born and unborn, with esophageal atresia, tracheo-esophageal fistula,
and/or the VATER/VACTERL Association, and to the very special parents
and medical staff who love and care for them, this organization is dedicated
phone
301-952-6837
| fax
301-952-9152
| email
info@tefvater.org
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