Pediatric congenital heart disease is a common disease that seriously endangers children’s physical and mental health, and these diseases, if left untreated, can have a great impact on children’s life and learning, and even threaten their lives. Early detection, diagnosis and treatment are the key to saving the lives of these children. WorldHeartDay was established by the World Heart Federation in 1999 and is celebrated once a year. September 24, 2000 was the first World Heart Day, and the last Sunday of September is World Heart Day every year thereafter. Its purpose is to spread awareness about heart health worldwide and to make the public aware that life requires a healthy heart. Heart disease is the number one threat to human life and health, and to remind people of this, the World Heart Federation has established World Heart Day once a year. Pediatric congenital heart disease is a common disease that seriously endangers the physical and mental health of children, and if left untreated, it can have a great impact on children’s lives and learning, and even threaten their lives. Early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment is the key to saving the lives of these children. Data show that the incidence of pediatric congenital heart disease (hereinafter referred to as congenital heart disease) is 0.7~0.8%, which means that 7~8 babies out of 1000 newborns suffer from congenital heart malformation or defect. According to epidemiological surveys, there are about 150,000 new children with congenital heart disease in China every year. What causes babies to develop congenital heart disease? The exact causes of congenital heart malformations are still unclear, but they can be broadly grouped into two main categories, namely environmental factors and genetic factors. Environmental factors include viral infections, inappropriate medication and chemical factors, radiation, nutritional deficiencies, etc. It is generally believed that babies born to mothers with viral infections, such as influenza and especially rubella, during the first trimester of pregnancy have a higher incidence of precocious heart disease. Moreover, the probability of malformations varies depending on the timing of the infection. If the mother is infected with a virus after the fourth month of pregnancy, the effect on the fetus is relatively minor. In the first trimester, many harmful substances and some drugs that can pass through the placenta can cause congenital heart malformations, such as certain antibiotics, antipyretic and analgesic drugs, so pregnant women should remember not to take drugs casually. If you need to use medication, you must do so under the guidance of a doctor. It is well established that ionizing radiation can cause cardiac malformations. Ionizing radiation can harm the developing embryo and can also affect the genetic material and produce heart malformations. The most common types of ionizing radiation to which you are exposed in the hospital are X-rays and isotopes. When a pregnant woman needs to undergo these tests, it is important to explain this to her doctor. Women who work with exposure to radiation should be temporarily removed from their former jobs once they are married and preparing for pregnancy to prevent and possible adverse effects of radiation on the embryo. If a pregnant woman is deficient in certain types of vitamins and other nutrients, the mother can still behave completely normally, but at this time the fetus is severely affected and can suffer from heart malformations or even lead to fetal death. However, the more vitamins a pregnant woman takes, the better. It is generally believed that vitamins B and C do not have a great impact on pregnant women, while an overdose of vitamins A, D and E can cause fetal abnormalities. Therefore, the mother-to-be should pay special attention to the above factors during pregnancy and strengthen her awareness of self-care to prevent the occurrence of prenatal heart disease. How can parents find out if their baby is suffering from precordial disease? Heart murmur – usually detected during the newborn’s physical examination. Cyanosis – purple lips or entire body. Thickening of fingers or toes (pestle fingers) – can be detected by visual inspection. Cardiac insufficiency – shortness of breath, difficulty feeding, abnormal crying, growth retardation, and fatigue. The above symptoms are not seen in every child with precordial disease. Some children with milder conditions have no obvious symptoms in their daily lives, just like normal children, and these children will often not be detected until they have a physical examination or until symptoms become apparent in adulthood. Therefore, parents should understand some of the signs of the onset of precardiac disease and carefully observe their children to achieve early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment. Treatment of children with pediatric precardiac disease Not all children need treatment. Some of them, such as ventricular septal defects, may heal on their own, and if conditions allow, children can be followed up until they are about three years old before considering further treatment. Children with more severe lesions and more obvious clinical symptoms, such as frequent respiratory infections, pneumonia and heart failure, which cannot be controlled with medication, should be operated early. For example, children with large ventricular septal defects and arteriovenous catheterization with pulmonary hypertension. In addition, complex precordial disease, such as aortic dislocation and pulmonary atresia, requires immediate surgery to reduce the child’s hypoxic state. In addition, transcatheter non-open-heart surgical treatment, i.e. interventional treatment, has become an important treatment method for precardiac disease. As the only interventional training base for congenital heart disease designated by the Ministry of Health of China, the Department of Cardiology of the Pediatric Center has rich clinical experience in completing about a thousand cases of interventional treatment for congenital heart disease every year. Several of the most common congenital heart diseases, such as ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect and arteriovenous ductus arteriosus, can be treated by interventional methods.