What should I do if my child has congenital heart disease?

  Congenital heart disease (congenital heart disease) is one of the common congenital malformations in children. Most commonly seen are ventricular and interventricular septal defects, patent ductus arteriosus, pulmonary valve, aortic valve stenosis and tetralogy of Fallot, and large vessel misalignment. Most children are diagnosed early due to heart murmurs detected at birth physical examination, and some are diagnosed early due to symptoms such as cyanosis and dyspnea. Approximately 1/2 of children with precordial disease die within the first year of life due to severe cardiac malformations. Although the milder cases can be asymptomatic in early stages, the presence of precordial murmur will affect the children’s schooling and employment; the severe cases often have feeding difficulties, vomiting, malnutrition, easy fatigue, shortness of breath or cyanosis, low immunity, easy coughing, recurrent colds and pneumonia in infancy and early childhood, and easily combined with heart failure. If left untreated, it will eventually lead to pulmonary hypertension, heart enlargement, heart failure, some complications of endocarditis, embolism, bleeding, life-threatening, and bring heavy mental and economic burden to families.  In recent years, domestic diagnostic and surgical techniques for precardiac disease have developed rapidly, and most precardiac diseases are diagnosed through auscultation and cardiac ultrasound. The success rate of surgical correction in experienced hospitals has reached over 95%. Numerous clinical studies have shown that postoperative children have a near-normal or normal quality of life. However, we have encountered some children who have delayed seeking medical treatment due to parental negligence, making the condition advanced, or losing the opportunity for surgery, or complicating cardiopulmonary insufficiency, increasing the risk of surgery. Therefore, we remind parents to take their children to the hospital as early as possible for examination to clarify the nature and degree of heart malformation and to determine the appropriate age for surgery, so as to avoid delaying the condition with the idea of “waiting until the child is older”.  For children with heart murmurs but no symptoms, they should not be neglected and should undergo regular physical examination, including chest X-ray and electrocardiogram, to understand the changes in murmurs and the cardiopulmonary load. Consider surgery if necessary to prevent complications such as endocarditis.  3. For children who need to wait for surgery due to age or other factors, pay attention to prevent colds, develop brushing habits and maintain oral hygiene. Tooth decay and tonsillitis should be actively treated when found. If there is a long-term fever that does not go away, consult a physician as early as possible and avoid strenuous physical activities so as not to increase the burden on the heart and lungs.  When is the best time to operate for congenital heart disease?  The more complex the malformation is, the more serious the disease is and the earlier the death. Cases with left-to-right shunt such as ventricular septal defect are prone to complicate pulmonary hypertension. When the complication is mild to moderate pulmonary hypertension, surgical treatment can still be sought, but when it develops into severe pulmonary hypertension with right-to-left shunt, the opportunity for surgery is lost. Therefore, early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment are the key to reduce the natural and surgical mortality of precordial heart disease. Currently, due to the advancement of technology, the surgical success rate of surgical treatment for infantile precocious heart disease is above 90%. Recent studies have proven that all patients need early surgery except for ventricular septal defects less than five millimeters without complications and under the age of six months, which can be temporarily observed.