Why are some babies born with heart defects?

InnoHEALTH magazine digital team — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 04:37:56 +0000

“CHD is an abnormality in a neonatal. It can affect the heart walls, heart valves, and blood vessels of the baby.”

What Factors are Responsible for an Infant’s Heart Defect. Some babies can be born with heart defects due to one of the pregnancy complications. The complications in a baby’s heart are referred to as Congenital Heart Defects (CHD). There is no reason why some babies are born with heart defects. However, the abnormalities in the number of baby’s chromosomes and some other factors may affect a baby’s heart.

What is Congenital Heart Defect?

During fetal development, the heart and the blood vessels of a baby may not grow properly. Possibly, the passage of blood inside the heart or vessel is blocked. In such a scenario, the blood runs abnormally through the heart or the parts that are yet to develop. CHD is an abnormality in a neonatal. It can affect the heart walls, heart valves, and blood vessels of the baby. The abnormal formation of the heart during a baby’s growth in a womb is responsible for Congenital heart defects. Mainly it occurs due to gene or environmental factors. However, the reason for heart defects in babies is unknown in eight out of the ten cases.

“One of the most common symptoms of a baby’s heart defect is Down’s syndrome.”

Reasons for heart defects in babies

While your doctor doesn’t know why your baby has a heart defect, the cause can be any of the following.

Single Gene Defect

One cause of a baby’s heart defect is gene disorder. A person has around 70,000 genes in each cell of his/her body. Genes are responsible for controlling our traits. They can also lead us to understand several health concerns. A number of health issues may occur due to a single genetic disorder. This genetic disorder is known as a syndrome. One of the most common symptoms of a baby’s heart defect is Down’s syndrome.

Some of the genetic syndromes with higher heart defect rates are listed below:

Marfan syndrome
Noonan syndrome
Mucopolysaccharidoses
Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome
Holt-Oram syndrome
Alagille syndrome
Ellis-van Creveld syndrome

Some other genetic syndromes are not associated with single gene defects but can lead to heart defects. They are:

Goldenhar syndrome (hemifacial microsomia)
CHARGE syndrome
VACTERL association

Chromosome Abnormalities

There are around 46 chromosomes in each cell of a person’s body. These structures contain genes. Chromosome abnormalities occur when you have too many or less than normal chromosomes. It leads to chronic health concerns and birth defects. When a part of the chromosome is missing, it leads to structural defects in infants. The issues in chromosomes are responsible for genetic syndromes. It often leads to a higher risk of heart defects in babies. Following are some of the chromosomes syndromes associated with Congenital Heart Defects:

Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21)
Trisomy 18 and trisomy 13
Williams syndrome
Turner’s syndrome
Cri-du-chat syndrome
Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome
DiGeorge syndrome (22q11)

After a chromosome analysis is done with the help of a blood sample. It analyzes for a chromosome abnormality in a baby with a CHD. It shows if chromosomes are the culprit.

“1% of neonates are born with congenital heart defects. The reasons can, however, be hidden, but the treatment is possible.”

Family history

The risk of congenital heart defect increases by three times if there is a family history of heart defect. In each pregnancy, a parent’s heart defect promotes 50% chance of developing congenital heart defects in babies. Similarly, there will be a 50% chance that your baby will not be affected by your congenital heart defect. 1% of neonates are born with congenital heart defects. The reasons can, however, be hidden, but the treatment is possible. Your doctor may advise you on medications, surgical treatment, or combinations of both. It may vary from the severity of the defect.

Maternal Factors

In the process of fetal development, when your baby’s heart is in a growing stage, a Congenital heart defect may occur due to maternal factors. Maternal factors for congenital heart defects may include:

Environmental substances
Medical Conditions
Habits like smoking and alcohol consumption
Viral infections during pregnancy
Obesity

“Malka Breidenstein is a Content Writer and writes blog about health-related articles”

The post Why are some babies born with heart defects? appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

FETAL MEDICINE TREATMENT

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 07:59:37 +0000

Fetal medicine makes treatment of abnormalities in the unborn child possible

Medical advancements in heart treatments have taken giant steps and is poised to treat congenital problems in the heart of a fetus today. However, due to a severe lack of awareness in India about what problems can be detected at fetal stages, expectant mothers are in oblivion about the health of their unborn child. This leads to an uniformed decision and many children are born with challenges that could have been detected and treated even before they were born.

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In India where Fetal medicine is still an upcoming discipline, the pregnant women aren’t much aware about its scope from diagnosis to therapy. Fetal medicine pertains to the use of Ultrasound, genetic tests, MRI etc. in the pregnancy period to determine the health of the newborn. Though fetal experts in India usually restrict themselves to treating complications of Identical twins, bladder outlet obstruction , fetal anaemia , the horizon for diagnosis has touched the Western mark. The motive is diagnosis of birth and chromosomal defects as early as possible so as to offer a fair chance to the couple on deciding fate of pregnancy. Fetal echo-cardiography is one worth mentioning which can pick up most early manifesting cardiac problems in the unborn in expert hands.

Fetal medicine practitioners try to spread awareness and say that one needs to see a fetal medicine specialist if they have any of the following conditions:

• Recurrent pregnancy loss/ death of baby in womb/death immediately after birth or delivery before date.
• Mothers who’s blood group is Rh negative
• Known genetic disease in family
• Pregnancy with previous child or family member affected by thalassemia/ haemophilia etc
• Pregnancy with h/o fever with rash/chickenpox
• Pregnancy with Diabetes/high BP/heart disease//Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Sjogren’s syndrome, Rheumatoid arthritis
• Pregnancy with hepatitis/ cancer/seizure/organ transplant
• Pregnancy with slow growth of fetus.
• Pregnancy with previous history of structural defect in the baby in previous pregnancy or in the family
• Pregnancy with previous history of mental retardation or heart defects in previous pregnancy or in the family
• IVF conceived pregnancy

Latest studies reveal that approximately 3-4% of pregnancies are diagnosed with a fetal defect. This can either be a genetic defect or a structural defect. With a lack of awareness in mothers; lack of exact diagnosis and monitoring this can result in a severe mental or physical handicap in a new-born and can prove to be traumatic for the family and pose a significant mental burden on the new mother. So India, now is the time to look up, ask and use the available expertise to join hands for the healthy next generation.

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Heart defect Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine