JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Congenital heart defects are one of the common birth defects occurring in one in a hundred newborns worldwide. In the US alone, some 40 thousand babies are born each year with some form of congenital heart defect. Ivanhoe introduces us to a new mom who not only was born with one – but both of her babies were too. Swiss Cheese Heart
Emery and Riley Grissom were born with holes in their hearts – something their mom, Tracey, knows all about.
“I was also born with a congenital heart defect.” Tracey says.
Tracey was born with a rare condition known as Swiss Cheese Heart. She had holes between the lower two chambers of her heart.
Rajesh Shenoy, MD, Pediatric Cardiologist at Wolfson Children’s Terry Heart Institute explains, “If you were to look at that wall, that septum, it would look like swiss cheese.”
Tracy had her holes repaired when she was eight months old, but because of her heart defect, Tracey and her husband Paul had Emery and Riley through a surrogate.
Not only did the family history put them at risk for heart problems, having them by IVF put them at even higher risk.
“To find out that both your children are gonna have congenital heart defects, it was mind blowing.” Says Tracy.
Emery’s holes in the bottom chamber of the heart will likely close as she grows. But Riley?
Doctor Shenoy says, “Essentially a huge chunk of the wall between the bottom two chambers was missing.”
Within weeks, Riley was struggling.
“He was in overt heart failure. He was breathing at around 60 to 70 times a minute. That’s about two or three times faster than a newborn should breathe.” States Doctor Shenoy.
Doctors at Wolfson Children’s Hospital performed a pulmonary artery banding—putting a tie around the pulmonary artery, preventing the extra blood flow from flooding into little Riley’s lungs. He went back to breathing normally.
Doctor Shenoy says, “While in the past, he just could not gain weight because his heart and his lungs were working overtime, he’s overtaken his sister right now.”
And after 140 days in the hospital, Riley went home with his sister … gaining weight and getting stronger—and just had open-heart surgery to close the holes in his heart.
IVF does increase the odds of any baby having a heart defect. That’s why doctors recommend genetic testing be done invitro. Riley had to have surgery several weeks ago because his condition rapidly declined. Little Emery will also need heart surgery, but not until she is three or four years old. Doctors say both children are expected to grow up and live a normal, active life.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/data.html
LIKE MOTHER LIKE KIDS: SAVING TWINS WITH SWISS CHEESE HEARTS
REPORT #3065
BACKGROUND: Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most common type of birth defect. They are present at birth and can affect the structure of a baby’s heart and the way it functions. CHDs affect how blood flows through the heart and out to the rest of the body and can vary from mild (such as a small hole in the heart) to severe (such as missing or poorly formed parts of the heart). Approximately one in four babies born with a heart defect has a critical CHD. When this occurs, surgery or other procedures are needed in the first year of life. The causes of CHDs are unknown. Some babies have heart defects because of changes in their individual genes or chromosomes. However, CHDs are also thought to be caused by a combination of genes and other factors, such as the environment, the mother’s diet, the mother’s health conditions, or the mother’s medication use during pregnancy.
(Source: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/facts.html)
SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT: Symptoms for CHDs depend on the type and severity of the defect. Some defects might have few or no signs or symptoms, while others might cause a baby to have blue-tinted nails or lips; fast or troubled breathing; tiredness when feeding; and sleepiness. Some affected infants and children may need one or more surgeries to repair the heart or blood vessels, and some can be treated without surgery using a procedure called cardiac catheterization. This procedure uses a long tube, called a catheter, that is threaded through the blood vessels into the heart. A doctor can then take measurements and pictures, do tests, or repair the problem. Sometimes surgery does not fully repair the heart defect, but these procedures can improve blood flow and the way the heart works. However, even if the heart defect has been repaired, many people with CHDs are not cured and require follow-up care. It is estimated that more than two million individuals in the United States are living with a CHD and many lead independent lives with little or no difficulty.
(Source: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/facts.html)
NEW APPROACHES TO SURGERY: Jeffrey Jacot, PhD, Jacot Lab for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine, University of Colorado Center for Bioengineering at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, specializes in engineering biomaterials that direct stem cells to build 3D, laboratory grown heart tissue. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is one of the more common heart defects where a patient needs a heart and lung transplant to get over the complications. Standard treatment has been to install a patch, typically made from plastic, to redirect blood flow inside the heart. Jacot’s team is researching using bioengineering to drive new tissue formation within the heart, essentially changing the organ’s geometry for improved function. The team implanted two versions of patches, the prevascularized 3D ones and non-cell loaded patches, into full-thickness heart-wall defects in the right ventricle of rats. Results after two months showed the repair with the prevascularized patches resulted in improved heart function. “It’s not a patch that goes over an area of the heart. Rather, it’s something that provides therapy to the cells that are in there – it’s something that actually makes heart tissue,” said Jacot.
* For More Information, Contact: Vikki Mioduszewski
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