mens health > heart > congenital heart disease

Congenital Heart Disease

When you hear the term, Congenital Heart Disease you are hearing about a heart disease consisting of heart abnormalities which are present at birth.

Congenital Heart Disease may not be noted at birth such as Coarctation of the aorta. This one usually takes many years before it is possible to diagnosis and may never cause any problems at all in the child’s life or even during adulthood.

While some congenital heart disease may be treatable with medication the majority will require surgical correction. Regardless of the possible treatment ... congenital heart disease is classified into two different types.

Cyanotic

The first class of congenital heart disease classification is "cyanotic" which is a blue discoloration brought on from lack of oxygen. Some of these include transposition of the great vessels, tricuspid artesia, tetralogy, total anomalous pulmonary venous return, truncus arteriosus, hypoplastic right heart, hypoplastic left heart, and Ebstein’s anomaly.

Non-Cyanotic

Non-cyanotic Congenital Heart disease includes atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect, aortic stenosis, coarctaion of the aorta, atrioventricular canal, and pulmonic stenosis.

Even though congenital heart disease is not associated with other disease, they can also be a part of chromosomal syndromes and genetic problems in cases such as Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, Marfan syndrome, Down syndrome, Noonan syndrome, Turner's syndrome, and trisomy 13.

There can be underlying causes of Congenital heart disease such as the use of drugs, or even infections during pregnancy. Some of the causes in congenital heart disease in these cases include fetal rubella and fetal alcohol syndrome.

Possible Prevention

Ways to prevent Congenital heart disease is to avoid alcohol and any other drugs during your pregnancy. Informing your physician that you may be pregnant and having a pregnancy test done can also aid in you not taking any prescription drugs that can cause Congenital heart disease.

There are still many studies being performed to learn more about what may cause Congenital Heart Disease. Hereditary may also be an underlying factor in congenital heart disease but it is also rare to have more than one child in a family with congenital heart disease.

Jim Shaw