Click to play videoNew Dellhi: Heart disease is enough to scare many of us. But, what happens when you are born with a heart problem?
One out of every 100 babies is born with various heart defects, which includs congenital heart defect.
In what is called a congenital heart condition, the heart or blood vessels near the heart do not develop normally before birth.
They either block the blood flow to the heart or cause it to flow through the heart in an irregular pattern.
"They happen in one out of 100 children life births and this is one of the commonest causes of death in the first year of life from birth defects," Dr Vikas Kohli, says.
He adds, "In India there are 1,00,050-60 thousand children being born with heart diseases per year".
But if the babies are diagnosed and treated on time within the first year, they can be completely cured and grow up to enjoy a healthy life.
So, what should parents watch out for? "When the baby cannot feed well, it gets tired while feeding, is sweating while feeding. The other group is if they don't have these problems, the baby continues to gain weight but gradually turns blue in the nails and lips." Dr Vikas Kohli adds.
But usually there are no symptoms as in the case of seven-year-old Kajal. In her case, the doctor often picks up a heartbeat with a stethoscope during a routine checkup.
In other cases, specialists do an echocardiogram (ECG), to help diagnose the patient.
The most common congenital heart defect detected by doctors are holes in the heart.
But with improved medical techniques, this no longer requires surgery.
A technique known as device closure can cure a hole in the heart. In this technique, a nickel-titanium alloy called nitinol is inserted into the heart, close the hole.
However, it is an expensive device costing Rs 1,00,000.
The defects can also be caused by viral infections, rubella or even doctor’s prescribed medicines taken by the mother. However, 99 per cent of the time, there is no known cause.
But there is hope and good news, the doctors are confident in rendering a complete cure for the more common congenital heart defects.
So, if you find your baby displaying any of these symptoms, do get it checked up.
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