Send newly borns to hospital for early detection of heart problems
Dr Innocent Kwashie Adzamli, a Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the National Cardiothoracic Centre of the Korle -Bu Teaching Hospital, has advised parents to send all newly born babies to the hospital to be examined by a competent doctor for congenital heart diseases.
Advertisement
Dr Adzamli explained that with thorough checks by a medical practitioner, babies with heart problems would be diagnosed early for the appropriate treatment to fix their ailing hearts.
Congenital heart diseases, he said, are structural problems of the heart from birth, pointing out that during the development of the baby in the womb, something may go wrong resulting in the condition.
The four most common congenital heart diseases seen in children who report at the Centre, according to him, are ventricular septal defect (VSD) and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), atrial septal defect (ASD) and Tetralogy of Fallot, a complex form of hole in heart.
Dr Adzamli explained that early diagnosis of heart diseases in children and the subsequent treatment to repair the heart would help eliminate complications such as weakening of the heart which is associated with delays in fixing the heart.
“Most children with hole in heart conditions who come to the Centre are diagnosed late because nobody examined them early. By the time they are brought in here, it is late for a lot of them. The more you delay, the weaker the heart becomes,” he said.
Dr Adzamli said close to 99 per cent of all congenital heart diseases in children could be managed by surgery, however, for those who report too late, they cannot benefit from surgery but are put on medication instead.
He mentioned some of the commonest symptoms of heart diseases in children that parents should look out for are fast breathing, getting tired easily during breastfeeding, dark palms and lips, not gaining weight as compared to children of the same age group and frequent chest infections which manifest with frequent coughs and fever.
He advised pregnant women to stay away from alcohol, smoking and the use of hard drugs because doing such things could cause disturbances in the formation of the baby, pointing out that the damage would not only affect the heart but the general body development of the baby.
He cautioned older children with sore throat to inform their parents early so that they would be sent to hospital for treatment.
“If you get a sore throat, the safest thing to do is to see a doctor or inform your parents early enough to send you to hospital for treatment because untreated sore throat could lead to one getting some form of heart disease,” he advised.
