What are the symptoms of congenital heart disease?

  Symptoms of congenital heart disease are related to the type and severity of the disease and usually appear in early infancy or even in the neonatal period, but some children can remain without manifestations until adulthood. Common manifestations can involve the respiratory system, circulatory system, gastrointestinal system, and more.  Most congenital heart diseases with left-to-right shunts are non-cyanotic. These children have recurrent respiratory infections, dyspnea (positive trigeminal sign: sternal fossa, supraclavicular fossa and intercostal space depression during inspiration), laryngeal wheezing, feeding difficulties, intermittent breastfeeding, poor growth, malnutrition, hepatomegaly, pleural fluid, ascites, eyelid edema, etc. In addition, many children with congenital heart disease have immune imbalance and hypoplasia, thymic gland hypoplasia, laryngeal cartilage softening, and anemia.  In congenital heart disease with right-to-left shunt, all are cyanotic. The most characteristic feature of this type of children is cyanosis. Cyanosis is a manifestation of cyanotic changes in the skin and mucous membranes due to increased de-oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood, which may also be called cyanosis. This change often occurs in thin skin, less pigmented and capillary-rich areas, such as lips, fingers (toes) and nail beds. In layman’s terms, this means that the area around the mouth and the tips of the nails are blue-purple. This type of congenital heart disease usually requires early medical attention, and some diseases require emergency surgery in the neonatal period, otherwise the best time for surgery is missed, such as transposition of the great arteries, pulmonary atresia, complete pulmonary vein ectopic drainage, and hypoplastic left heart syndrome.