Five of 10 kids screened in state have hole in heart: Cardiologist

SHILLONG, Aug 9: Five out of every 10 infants screened in Meghalaya are found to have a hole in their heart.
For many, it heals within a short span of time but for some, it requires intense medical intervention at a later stage.
Tiny faces, covered with oxygen masks and lying on stretcher beds, are a moving sight but it is common these days as numerous cases of holes in the heart are detected.
Cardiologist Dr Synrang Batngen Warjri said on an average, half of the infants, who visit his clinic every day for an echo test, are diagnosed with a hole in their heart.
“If I do an echo of 10 newborn babies, I find that almost half of them have holes in their heart. In most cases, these holes gradually close as the infant grows and a majority of them will disappear within one year. However, a few of them do not disappear and instead, they become bigger as the child grows,” Dr Warjri said.
He said the actual data in terms of percentage of children with persisting holes in their heart is not known. He said he did not encounter many such cases in the plains.
“A hole in the heart appears to be more prevalent in high altitude areas although there are no studies done in our state to support this. I have been in Rajasthan and Delhi for 10-11 years but I never saw so many children with holes in their heart as much as I have seen it in our state,” Dr Warjri said.
To a query, he said, “It is not that such heart defects are on the rise, but the increase in the detection rate is because more and more births nowadays are happening in a hospital setup where screening tests for such heart defects in newborn babies are readily available.”
“I still encounter quite a few patients who never knew they had a heart defect since birth until they are in their teens or early adulthood. This is because at birth, these defects can be really small and they do not cause many problems to the child, but as the child grows, the defect also grows, eventually showing the symptoms during teens or early adulthood,” Dr Warjri further said.
According to him, with the advancement in technology, 99% of birth defects can be detected at birth by a simple test called echocardiography, which is like an ultrasound of the heart.
“When the baby is inside the womb, some of these holes are essential for the baby as the lungs are not working at that time. Once the baby is born and starts breathing, a majority of these holes close naturally within 72 hours. However, some may not close naturally,” the doctor said.
“There are many reasons why such holes may not close naturally after birth. One of the probable reasons that explains the higher incidence of such birth defects in our state is the lower partial pressures of oxygen in a high-altitude region,” Dr Warjri said.
Talking about treatment, he said most of these holes in the heart can be closed, either by putting a device across to close them or by an open-heart surgery.
Putting a device across the defect is a minimally-invasive method that leaves no scars and where recovery is faster. The remaining cases where putting a device is not feasible are referred for an open-heart surgery which is a major surgery, he said, adding the expenses can go upto to Rs 2 lakh depending on the availability or non-availability of MHIS card.