Congenital Heart Disease
Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), also known as congenital heart defect, is a problem with the structures of the heart or blood vessels that occur before birth. The defects result when the walls of the heart, the valves of the heart, and the arteries and veins near the heart, don’t develop normally before birth. These defects may or may not have a disruptive effect on a person’s circulatory system. If they do, blood flow can slow down, go in the wrong direction or to the wrong place, or be blocked completely. Some of these defects are simple and may not cause problems; while others are complex or critical and may cause life-threatening complications.
Advances in diagnosis and treatment mean most babies who once died of congenital heart disease survive well into adulthood. However, signs and symptoms of the condition can occur in adults later in life, even those who had treatment as a child. It's also possible that problems in your heart, which weren't serious enough to repair when you were a child, have worsened and now require treatment. Therefore, it is important to check with your doctor to determine how often you should be seen as an adult.
Some of the most common types of CHD conditions include but are not limited to the following:
- Atrial septal defect
- Bicuspid aortic valve disease
- Coarctation of the aorta
- D-Transposition of the great arteries
- Ebstein anomaly
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
- L-Transposition of the great arteries
- Patent ductus arteriosus
- Pulmonary valve atresia
- Tetralogy of Fallot
- Total anomalous pulmonary venous return
- Truncus arteriosus
- Ventricular septal defect