My 3 1/2 year old sister just came back from the cardiologist (please help!)?

Question

Unfortunately I was able to go with her but my mom did. She doesn't understand English that much. This is all she understood. The cardiologist said she has a 2 inches (Atrial Septial Defect) hole in heart and they have referred her to another cardiologist in 2 days. Is she going to be ok? Is the surgery that they are going to perform dangerous? Please Please Please help!

Answer 1

Closing an atrial septal defect in childhood can prevent serious problems later in life. The long-term outlook is excellent.

After an ASD is closed, patients need follow-up with a cardiologist. Only rarely will they need to take medicine. Your cardiologist can monitor you with noninvasive tests if needed. These include electrocardiograms, Holter monitors, exercise stress tests and echocardiograms. They will help show if more procedures, such as a cardiac catheterization, are needed.

Activity restrictions are almost never needed unless there are associated problems that you and your doctor have discussed.

Answer 2

An atrial septal defect is a hole between the walls that separate the atrium from the ventricle. The hole reduces the amount of blood the heart can pump due to leakage. These things are relatively common at birth, and generally not life threatening, but they can sometimes be severe enough to limit a person's abilities if they are not corrected through surgery. Most of the time, the holes close on their own, but if the hole hasn't closed by your sister's age, it probably isn't going to close on its own.

There are two types of surgery that are used for this. One is relatively minor, and the other is open heart surgery, which is pretty intensive. The surgeons may have not yet decided which approach is necessary. With either type of surgery, the outcome is usually very good when the problem is corrected at your sister's age. The risk from the operation is much much less than the risks from letting a problem go untreated. The risks of open heart surgery are similar to many major surgeries: there is a risk of infection and adverse reactions to the anesthetics.