Most of the conditions in this list are congenital heart defects – a heart problem that a baby is born with. They’re sometimes referred to as congenital heart disorders, or birth defects.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms of a Congenital Heart Defect?
It depends. Many cause trouble breathing, extremely low energy, and a greyish or bluish tint to skin, lips and nails. Some cause an irregular heart beat, chest pain, dizziness, or swelling in the legs or belly. Some have very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Check the list for specific conditions.
What Causes Congenital Heart Defects?
These conditions occur when the baby’s heart doesn’t form properly during pregnancy, often during the first eight weeks. Most seem to occur by chance, without any known cause.
In the U.S., about 1 in 100 babies is born with some type of congenital heart defect.
How Are Congenital Heart Defects Treated?
Some are minor issues that go away on their own. Others are serious disorders that need surgery or another procedure right away. Connecticut Children’s Heart Center specializes in diagnosing and treating the full range of these conditions, including very rare and complex cases.
Connecticut Children’s uses state-of-the-art heart imaging and cardiac catheterization to fully understand and diagnose each patient’s condition. We tap into experts across our 30-plus pediatric specialties to find the right plan of care. We offer cutting-edge treatments, from minimally invasive catheter procedures to complex surgeries with outstanding outcomes.
This care starts before a baby is born, with our fetal cardiologists, and continues through life with our nationally-accredited Adult Congenital Heart Disease program – one of the nation’s first accredited programs of its kind.