Fittingly, February is American Heart Month. Sometimes, little babies are born with hearts that just don't tick like they are supposed to. These little ones are born with Congenital Cardiovascular Defects. What is a congenital cardiovascular defect?
Congenital means inborn or existing at birth. Among the terms you may hear are congenital heart defect, congenital heart disease and congenital cardiovascular disease. The word "defect" is more accurate than "disease." A congenital cardiovascular defect occurs when the heart or blood vessels near the heart don't develop normally before birth.
What causes congenital cardiovascular defects?
Congenital cardiovascular defects are present in about 1 percent of live births. They're the most common congenital malformations in newborns. In most cases scientists don't know why they occur. Sometimes a viral infection causes serious problems.
Heredity sometimes plays a role in congenital cardiovascular defects. More than one child in a family may have a congenital cardiovascular defect, but this rarely occurs. Certain conditions affecting multiple organs, such as Down's syndrome, can involve the heart, too. Some prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines, as well as alcohol and "street" drugs, may increase the risk of having a baby with a heart defect. Researchers are studying other factors.
What are the types of congenital defects?
Most heart defects either obstruct blood flow in the heart or vessels near it, or cause blood to flow through the heart in an abnormal pattern. Rarely defects occur in which only one ventricle (single ventricle) is present, or both the pulmonary artery and aorta arise from the same ventricle (double outlet ventricle). A third rare defect occurs when the right or left side of the heart is incompletely formed — hypoplastic heart.
There are thousands of kiddos who are born facing a battle and a hard road ahead. Benjamin
was one of them, but due to some good work from doctors and lot of love he is enjoying school, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and teaching other kids about healthy hearts. Watch and listen to Benjamin talk about his life. What a guy!
There are many cute kiddies that need our help. Please help if you can.
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