Treatment of heart defects

Structural heart disease is a fairly common condition that refers to abnormalities of the heart’s structure, including its valves, walls or muscle. It can encompass a wide range of conditions and can be congenital or acquired later in life.

Today, thanks to the latest methods of diagnosis, heart defects can be detected in the first year of life, which allows to provide timely treatment and increases the chance of a favorable outcome.

There are the following types of Structural heart diseases that can be treated:

• Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) - is a heart defect in which blood flows between the atria (upper chambers) of the heart.
• Patent Foramen Oval (PFO). Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a flaplike opening between the atrial septa primum and secundum at the location of the fossa ovalis (see the image below) that persists after age 1 year. After birth, the pressure in the right side of the heart drops as the lungs open and begin working, causing the foramen ovale to close entirely. In about 25% of adults, the foramen ovale does not entirely seal. In these cases, any elevation of the pressure in the pulmonary circulatory system (due to pulmonary hypertension, temporarily while coughing, etc.) can cause the foramen ovale to remain open.
• Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) - in which there is a persistent communication between the descending thoracic aorta and the pulmonary artery that results from failure of normal physiologic closure of the fetal ductus (see image below), is one of the more common congenital heart defects. Schematic diagram of a left-to-right shunt of blood flow from the descending aorta via the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) to the main pulmonary artery.
• Ventricular septal defect (VSD). This defect occurs not only in children but also in adults, elderly patients who have suffered a myocardial infarction localized in the interventricular septum. Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a defect in the ventricular septum, the wall dividing the left and right ventricles of the heart. The extent of the opening may vary from pin size to complete absence of the ventricular septum, creating one common ventricle. Since the blood pressure in the left ventricle is greater than in the right, part of the blood is discharged into the right parts of the heart. Overloading the blood of the right ventricle leads to overextension of its walls and, accordingly, to a violation of blood circulation.

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