Heart {31 for 21}

I met a woman at Target this weekend who stopped to chat when she noticed Reese's designer genes. "Your little beauty has an extra chromosome!", she said.  Most people don't get that specific so I suspected she knew a little about Ds. She told me her dad's sister had Ds & was everyone's favorite sibling.  She went on to say she died at the age of 16 from complications of a heart defect.  My throat tightened & I had to fight back the tears.  That would've been Reese had she been born just decades earlier. I'll say it again & again, thank goodness for modern medicine & skilled hands that mend broken hearts. 

Reese's open heart surgery experience was well documented here & here & here & here & here so I won't rehash the details.  I just want to share a little info about Ds & congenital heart defects, primarily the defect which Reese had repaired, an atrioventricular septal defect.

Children with Ds are at a much higher risk for congenital heart disease.  The incidence of congenital heart disease in the general population is 0.8 percent while the incidence in children with Ds is between 40-60 percent.

Some heart defects can be left alone with careful monitoring while others require surgery to correct the problem.  The most common heart defect in children with Ds is the atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD).  Our surgeon told us AVSDs account for roughly half of the heart defects in kids with Ds.
Atrioventricular Septal Defects (AVSDs):
These heart defects are defined by a hole in the wall between the top chambers (atria) and bottom chambers (ventricles) and one common valve between the two areas.

Because of the high pressure in the left ventricle which is needed to pump the blood around the body, blood is forced through the holes in the central heart wall (septum) when the ventricle contracts. This increases the pressure in the right ventricle. This increased pressure (pulmonary hypertension) results in excess blood flow to the lungs.  All information courtesy of the NACD.

THE FOLLOWING DIAGRAM IS AN EXPLANATION OF THE NORMAL HEART:
How the Heart Works: The Heart House

To simplify how blood flows through a normal, healthy heart
think of the heart as a house with:

• 4 Rooms (Chambers) • 4 Doors (Valves)

• 4 Big Hallways (Vessels) • 4 Small Hallways (Vessels)

THE FOLLOWING DIAGRAM IS AN EXPLANATION OF REESE'S HEART PRIOR TO HER REPAIR:

Common Atrioventricular Canal (Endocardial Cushion Defect)

All images courtesy of The Children's Heart Institute of Virginia (many thanks to Pudge & Biggie for directing us to this wonderful resource)