Heart Birth Defect

It can be frightening to learn that your child has a heart birth defect (one that's present at birth). But a heart birth defect is a relatively common condition that affects almost 1 in every 100 newborns in the United States. Medical knowledge, technology and experience can offer accurate diagnoses and treatments that allow nearly every form of heart birth defect to be treated.

Heart birth defects today are treated with surgery, catheter procedures and sometimes medication. Thanks to advances in techniques, surgical and heart catheterization procedures can treat a heart birth defect that once could not be treated effectively.

Cardiac surgery and cardiac catheterizations are now being performed on younger children — in fact, it's common for them to be done during infancy or even the newborn period. This has resulted in many long-term advantages for these children.

Although nothing can be guaranteed with 100% certainty, most kids with a heart birth defect can enjoy happy and healthy futures.

After birth, the first sign of a heart birth defect is often the presence of a heart murmur. A murmur in itself is not a disease, but simply a sound. Not all heart murmurs are signs of abnormalities — in fact, heart murmurs usually don't indicate the presence of any heart problem. Sometimes, a doctor can determine with a stethoscope alone whether a particular murmur is a sign of heart disease. 

Although many children with minor forms of heart birth defects may not require any treatment, some can have serious symptoms early on that will require medical or surgical treatment within the first year of life. 

Matters of the Heart contains many real-life stories of babies with a heart birth defect. Get your copytoday!