Dr. Alan Tong Discusses CongenItal Heart Disease in Children

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- This month is designated as congenital heart defect month a time to raise awareness about the issue. Dr. Alan Tong is with Mercy. He specializes in pediatric cardiology. Audrey Esther, KOLR10: Statistics show that more than a million babies worldwide are born with CHD and 100,000 die before their first birthday. How do you calm expectant parents through this? Dr. Tong: It's a scary statistic. It turns out about 1% of babies are born with CHD - the serious types. About 35-36,000 are born in the U.S. with serious CHD. What is reassuring to parents is, that number - multiplied by 2 or 3 - is the actual number of patients with congenital heart problems that are not serious. And in our office, we also see very large numbers of patients who have a finding such as a heart murmur which may be indicative of a heart problem, which often are not. So, by far and away, the vast majority of kids suspected of having heart problems do not have them.

Audrey : So there is a range of how severe it can be? Dr. Tong: Correct.

Audrey: Do we know why it affects so many newborns? Dr. Tong: That's a very good question. A lot of it is awareness, which is what we're talking about this week with Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week. Some of it is the fact that the medical community is very aware and looking for it. So, we have doctors always looking for signs and symptoms of heart problems. We have the technology and equipment to detect it. There is a very good prenatal screening program here in Springfield. So moms who suspect a heart problem can get a very detailed ultrasound before the baby is born. So we know, a lot of times, there is warning. There is a higher incidence of babies with heart problems in families with one baby that already has heart problems. But having said that, the vast majority of kids we see - one child has it, no one else has it in prior generations or in the future.

Audrey: With 40 different types of CHD, parents shouldn't leap to the worst case scenario immediately? Dr. Tong: That is correct. Of the children who have significant heart problem, about 40% of them have what we would consider a life-threatening heart problem. The other 60% of the serious ones are things that require medicines, or sometimes surgery. But not necessarily something that will require urgent intervention as in Caleb's (Miller) case.

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Dr. Alan Tong Discusses CongenItal Heart Disease in Children