Doctor tell me; Congenital heart defects

Doctor tell me how common are congenital heart defects. Because answering questions about your health is an important part of your doctor's services. The Minnesota State Medical Association presents doctor tell me here to ask the doctor your questions. Is Janice Hughes dead. Today your health questions will be answered by Dr. Nathan K. Jensen thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon from Minneapolis. Dr. Jensen when are most congenital heart defects discovered. Probably they discovered in our modern society most frequently in the first two weeks of life because it's now the custom to examine each newborn baby carefully listening and checking for the presence of defects in our less fortunate societies. Medical attention is not. Immediately available to newborn children they discover the time child becomes competitive with other children and is observed they can't run and keep up or they get blue and sit

down. It's as action begins. Just what does the expression congenital heart defect mean. The expression congenital heart defect means that the child is born with a defect but it does not mean that the child inherited the defect. A few congenital defects are inherited. In fact no one can prove at the present time that any one defect or any defect is truly inherited. And as our knowledge has increased in this matter it's become apparent that the defects are the result of the accidents of environment that the mother suffered during the time that the child was growing in her body. That is if she gets measles or mumps or chicken pox these virus infections Damn means the new barn the new developing baby and prevent the completion of its development and this results in

defects. All inborn congenital heart defects serious. Normal I would guess that probably three quarters are serious. Others make a noise and the child is heard with a murmur in the school. But further study indicates that the turbulence that's making the noise is caused by a disturbance or a relationship and the formation of a blood vessel. We really will never bother the child. How dramatic Has the recent progress in diagnosis surgery and medical care for congenital heart defects. It's this dramatic that I graduated from medical school in 1935. At that time we describe these defects as congenital heart defects and no one knew one from the other. There were just all in the same waste basket because they were all incurable. Nobody knew anything about them. If you just recognize them you were

great. Now we make a definitive diagnosis repair the defect and in most instances get a perfectly normal child. Is it safe to say that today most patients with congenital heart disease can be restored to normal or mean normal health. Yes it is. This is the aim of the cardiac surgery and in over 85 percent of the cases this can be accomplished it may require two or sometimes three staged operations to reach this point. But each year success is better and each year we find better ways to do it. Thank you very much Dr. Jensen. The Minnesota State Medical Association has presented Dr. tell me recorded in the studios of KUNM at the University of Minnesota. Janice who is dead has asked the doctor your questions if you have any additional questions. Write to Dr. tell me. Minnesota State Medical Association Three seventy five

Jackson St.. St. Paul Minnesota. 5 5 1 0 0 1. This program was distributed by the national educational radio network.