An understanding of congenital heart disease in children: A review article

Heart development, is early in the embryo leading to significant mortality and morbidity affecting the clinical outcome of the affected individuals.Congenital heart defect is an anatomic malformation of the heart and/or great vessel, whichoccurs during intrauterine development. It is the commonestof all congenital lesions and is the most commontype of heart disease among children.The incidence of congenital heart disease isapproximately 8 per 1000 live birth, with a higherrate in stillbirth, spontaneous abortion andprematurity.3,4 It is believed that this incidence hasremained constant worldwide.The CHD may be classified as acyanotic andcyanotic defects and the former is further divided into obstructive and left-to-right shuntlesions. The exact etiology of CHD is not known and the majority of cardiac defects can be explained by multifactorial inheritance hypothesis. Based on this review, it appears that while the etiology of CHD is not clearly identified, their recognition by clinical evaluation and non-invasive laboratory tests is possible and their treatment with currently available transcatheter and surgical methods is feasible, effective and safe.