Congenital heart problems can be detected before birth: Dr.Rajat Gupta

Jammu: “To achieve the best results in such cases, early diagnosis and timely intervention is a must. These problems can be diagnosed even before the birth of baby and appropriate steps then can be taken. Awareness among the parents, school teachers and health care providers all lead to early detection of congenital heart defects,” said Dr.Rajat Gupta, Pediatric Cardiologist at Fortis Hospital Mohali while addressing media persons here today.
He said heart defects that are present since birth can be treated without surgery too, giving new lease of life to children, adding, Fortis Hospital, Mohali, being the only hospital in the region to offer complete diagnostic, surgical and non-surgical treatment in heart ailments among children, has recently successfully treated two children.
Dr. Gupta was in Jammu today for the Pediatric Cardiology awareness drive. Talking to the media persons he said that one in every hundred babies suffer from congenital heart defects, or heart defects that are present since birth. Close to 1.8 Lakh babies are born with these heart problems every year. But only a small percentage of them get appropriate and timely treatment. The main reasons behind this are lack of awareness and myth that the hole in the heart will heal by itself with time. The delay in seeking treatment complicates matters, the cardiologist added.
Hundreds of babies get a new lease of life at Fortis Hospital Mohali each year due to the combined benefit of world-class clinicians and latest technology.
While sharing details about two girls, one 11 months old and another seven years old whom he has recently treated, Dr Rajat said these defects are rare occurrence with incidence of 8 cases per 1000 live births. But considering the entire population and birth rate in India, total disease burden is enormous. Both of these patients had hole in heart which can lead to low weight gain, pneumonia and heart failure. These girls underwent open heart surgery to close that hole.
While the 11 months girl was treated on time, surgery of older girl was delayed and we had to do the angiography to see whether she is still operable or not but fortunately she was operable and also responded to treatment well.
Heart defects, which are present since birth, could be a simple hole in heart, which can be treated without surgery by catheter intervention or the defects can be complex, requiring open heart surgery. Treatment for these defects in children is limited to handful of hospitals across the country.
These defects of the heart which are present since birth can range from simple lesions to problems of valve, which can be treated without surgery by catheter intervention. The defects can be complex requiring open heart surgery or sometimes even surgery cannot correct the basic defect, in such cases only palliative surgery can be done to relieve the symptoms of patient.
Box: Watch out for these in your children!
•        Low weight gain
•        Fast breathing, fast heart rate
•        Easy fatigue while playing
•        Repeated episodes of pneumonia
•        Bluish discoloration of fingers, lips