What is CHD (abbreviation for Congenital Heart Defects)
What is CHD you may ask? Before I tell you what CHD is, I want to explain the heart to you.
About the Heart:
The heart is a complex, muscular organ with four chambers designed to pump blood around the body. When properly formed there are two receiving chambers (known as atria), and two larger chambers (known as ventricles), but for those with a Congenital Heart Defect all is not working as it should be.
So, what is CHD?
CHD stands for Congenital Heart Defect and is an abnormality of the heart which occurs soon after conception and often before the mother is aware that she is pregnant. The defects can range in severity from simple problems, such as "holes" between chambers of the heart, to very severe malformations, such as complete absence of one or more chambers or valves.
What is the Definition of CHD:
Congenital means 'born with' and/or 'from birth'. Sometimes a CHD can go undetected until adulthood but the majority are detected at birth. With modern medicine these defects are usually corrected with surgery. (2)
So, we now know what CHD stands for but did you know that there are 35 known CHD's! Plus many other defects that affect the heart such as:
· Aortic Stenosis
· Atrial Septal Defect
· Atrio-ventricular Septal Defect
· Cardiomyopathy
· Coarctation of the Aorta
· Complex Transposition of the Great Arteries
· Congenitally corrected Transposition of the Great Arteries
· Ebstein’s Anomaly
· Eisenmenger Syndrome
· Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS)
· Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome (HRHS)
· Persistant Ductus Arteriosis
· Pulmonary Stenosis
· Tetralogy of Fallot
· Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection
· Transposition of the Great Arteries
· Ticuspid Atresia
· Truncus Ateriosus
· Ventricular Septal Defect
Signs and Symptons
Below are some links which I have used to obtain information when I first started raising awareness back in May 2007. Please feel free to take a look and educate yourself.
http://www.congenitalheartdefects.com/typesofCHD.html
http://tchin.org
Please remember that Congenital heart disease is the most frequent form of major birth defects in newborns affecting close to 1% of newborn babies (8 per 1,000), this does not count all the children lost in pregnancy to CHDs(1). (3)
This figure is an underestimate since it does not include some common problems, namely:
Patent ductus arteriosus in preterm babies (a temporary condition)
Bicuspid (two cusps) aortic valve (the aortic valve usually has three cusps or flaps)
Mitral valve prolapse (drooping of a heart valve)
Peripheral pulmonary stenosis (narrowing of the lung vessels well away from the heart) (4)
References:
(1) Dr vonder muhill is a joint Royal Brompton-University of Toronto fellow in Adult Congenital Heart Disease/Defect.
(2) CHD-UK Group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2361087995
(3) CHD-UK on MySpace CHD-UK
(4) Janel: http://www.myspace.com/heyjude1027
The abnormality of the heart is similar in everyone who has a CHD, but each person is unique and so is affected differently.
Various procedures are used to help repair the heart to prevent the need for surgery but not enough is being done in the UK to raise awareness of heart problems. Awareness is the key for hope and survival for sufferers and their families as it is often a silent killer.
Written by: CHD-UK