What is a ventricular septal defect, is it hereditary and is it dangerous?

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Nguyen Hong Phuc - Emergency Resuscitation Doctor, Emergency Resuscitation Department - Vinmec Phu Quoc International General Hospital

With the exception of aortic valve disease, ventricular septal defect is the most common congenital heart disease, accounting for about 25% of congenital heart diseases. Children with this malformation are often slow to grow and can have many dangerous complications if not handled promptly. This article will provide you with knowledge about ventricular septal defect to be more proactive in dealing with this disease.

Ventricular septal defect is a congenital heart disease in which a hole is formed between the two ventricles. There are many different anatomical classifications of ventricular septal defects, but in general, there are 4 main types of ventricular septal defect:
Peri-membrane septal defect Muscle septal defect or proximal ventricular septal defect apex ventricular septal defect or common ventricular septal defect ventricular septal defect or subaortic or subpulmonary ventricular septal defect

Signs and symptoms of severe ventricular septal disease often appear in the first months of life, even in the first days of life. The common manifestations of ventricular septal defect in children are shortness of breath or rapid breathing, children refuse to eat, eat poorly, children quickly get tired, or have repeated pneumonia.
However, many cases of children have no symptoms that are discovered by chance when going to the doctor, some other cases are only discovered when they are adults. In summary, the symptoms of ventricular septal disease:
Blue skin, especially around the fingernails and lips. Eating poorly, children not thriving, having trouble breathing when eating or crying. Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing: Shortness of breath even with light exercise or at rest, the body gets tired easily when eating or playing. Swollen feet, ankles and feet. Heart beats fast. A ventricular septal defect is not discovered until adulthood and often develops additional signs or symptoms of heart failure. Signs and symptoms may vary depending on the size of the ventricular septal defect.

The case of small ventricular septal defect is very common, can be seen in adults and is capable of self-closing. The rate of self-closing of small ventricular septal defects in children is up to 75%.
In contrast, a large ventricular septal defect will rapidly affect respiration and pulmonary artery pressure, which can be fixed very soon: from 6 to 9 months. For cases of fixed pulmonary vascular resistance (Eisenmenger syndrome), patients rarely survive beyond the age of 40. Common complications in this group of patients are pulmonary bleeding, endocarditis, and abscess. cerebral palsy, ventricular arrhythmias and complications of polycythemia vera. Prognosis is poor in patients presenting with syncope, congestive heart failure, and hemoptysis.
It was found that in addition to maternal influenza in the first trimester, ventricular septal defect is common in pathological syndromes, especially trisomy 21 syndrome, maternal alcoholism during pregnancy. ...

Ventricular septal disease runs in families and is sometimes genetic. Genetic factors in the family can cause congenital heart disease to occur in many generations of the family.
Pregnant women who fall into one of the following situations may increase the risk of having a baby with congenital heart defects: getting rubella during pregnancy, diabetes that is difficult to control, drug use, alcohol consumption or exposure to certain irritants. Therefore, pregnant women need to be vaccinated against Rubella before becoming pregnant, do not use stimulants and have good control of diabetes. For women with congenital heart disease, it is important to discuss this with a cardiologist before deciding to become pregnant.