For example, the valves of the heart may be missing or not work properly. In other cases, there may be holes in the walls of the heart or abnormal connections between blood vessels and the heart. These heart defects can occur for different or unknown reasons. The defects may be mild and cause no problems or be life threatening and require surgery hours after birth. Symptoms of CHD can be present at birth, in early infancy, or may only develop later in life.
Symptoms depend on the type and severity of the defect.
Many times the cause of CHD is unknown. Women of childbearing age should make sure they have received all standard vaccines. This can help prevent cases due to certain viral infections during pregnancy, such as rubella . This test can check how well the heart is beating and also visualize many heart defects. Small defects may eventually repair themselves and cause no long-term effects.