Heart Conditions We Treat
The Healthy Heart
While in the mother’s womb, a baby’s heart and lungs function differently than they do after delivery. During your child’s development in the womb, the heart completes development from a single straight tube into a complex four-chambered pump that contains four valves. Until the baby takes his first breath after delivery when the umbilical cord is clamped, the baby receives oxygen through the mother’s placenta, not the lungs. After delivery, your baby’s lungs will begin to function as the passages that allowed your baby to receive oxygenated blood from the mother close.
The heart is the strongest muscle in the body. It is separated into four chambers and lengthwise it is divided into right and left sides by muscular tissue called a septum. The right upper chamber is called the right atrium and the right lower chamber, the right ventricle. The left side is divided into upper and lower chambers also. They are the left atrium and the left ventricle respectively. Four valves act as one-way doors to direct blood flow through the heart.
Unoxygenated (blue) blood enters the right side of the heart and goes from the right atrium through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle and out the pulmonary artery to the lungs. Once in the lungs, the blood picks up oxygen (red), and reenters the heart through the pulmonary veins into the left atrium. It leaves the left atrium through the mitral valve, into the left ventricle, out the aorta and to the rest of the body, supplying the body with oxygenated (red) blood. This delivers energy to all the cells in the body. This cycle is repeated over 100,000 times a day.
Heart Problems in Children
There are two types of heart disease found in children - congenital and acquired.
Congenital heart disease are heart disorders that are present at birth due to the abnormal development of a baby’s heart in the early stages of pregnancy. In some cases, this heart defect can be detected before the birth of the child. The Children’s Hospital partners with the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center and The University of Colorado Hospital to provide region's most comprehensive program for high-risk maternity and newborn care.
During development in the womb, the baby relies upon its mother for oxygen through the placenta and blood flows through the heart, which is still a single-pump system. That is why it is possible for the baby to grow and exist even if there is a heart defect. Most heart defects remain hidden until birth when the baby becomes reliant on his own heart and lungs to provide the proper oxygen and blood flow needed. They are also discovered by a child’s doctor or pediatric cardiologist at birth or during examination of the child for a heart murmur, irregular heart rate, palpitations or fainting episodes. Many heart problems in childhood are outgrown and may just need to be monitored or perhaps treated for a while during the growing years. Some ailments require medication or surgery to correct the problem.
The Children’s Hospital also treats adult congenital heart disease in individuals that need additional monitoring beyond childhood.
With acquired heart disease, the child is born with a normal and healthy heart and it develops problems later in life. Heart problems that can develop are those found when the heart pumps poorly or has infections that cause it to beat too slowly, quickly or erratically. Most acquired heart problems occur in adults, such as coronary and hypertensive heart disease. But, children can develop problems too, and are usually associated with bacterial or viral infections.
