At the Pediatric Heart Center we treat all types of heart disease in pediatric patients, and in those adults who require it. Some of the most frequent are the following:
Patent arterial duct (PAD)
Before birth there is a vessel called the ductus arteriosus, which connects the aorta with the pulmonary artery. This structure closes almost immediately at birth. When it doesn't close, there is blood going to the lungs that mixes from the aorta into the pulmonary artery. It usually occurs in premature patients, but it can exist in any child.
Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)
There is an abnormal hole in the septum that separates the upper chambers of the heart, causing the lungs to receive more blood than normal and become congested.
Ventricular septal defect (VSD)
There is an abnormal hole in the septum that separates the lower chambers of the heart, which puts the high-pressure left chamber (or left ventricle) in communication with the low-pressure right chamber (or right ventricle) and causes the lungs receive more blood than normal.
Complete Atrioventricular Canal (CAVC)
It is a complex malformation that involves various structures of the heart, including the septum that separates the upper chambers, the septum that separates the lower chambers, and the valves that separate the upper chambers from the lower chambers. These alterations in the structure of the heart cause short-circuiting of blood from the left side to the right side, congestion of the lungs and malfunction of the involved heart valves.
Tricuspid Atresia
In this disease there is no tricuspid valve, which is what allows the flow of blood without oxygen, from the right atrium to the right ventricle, for it to be expelled from there to the lungs so it can be oxygenated and return to the left side of the heart.
Dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries (d-TGA)
In a normal heart, the aorta connects to the left ventricle, while the pulmonary artery connects to the right ventricle. In the case of a transposition of the great arteries, the aorta is poorly connected with the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery with the left ventricle, causing the non-oxygenated blood to go directly to the body, while the oxygenated goes to the lungs.
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF)
This heart disease is a combination of four heart defects:
- Comunicación interventricular. Un orificio en la pared de los ventrículos que provoca que la sangre no oxigenada, del lado derecho, se mezcle con la sangre oxigenada, del lado izquierdo.
- Subpulmonary stenosis. The right ventricular outflow pathway is narrow. The obstruction is usually below the pulmonary valve, but the pulmonary valve, and the pulmonary artery itself, are generally also affected and narrow. This causes blood to pass from the right ventricle to the left ventricle through the orifice, or ventricular communication, that connects the two ventricles.
- Cabalgamiento de la aorta. Como consecuencia de la estrechez de la arteria pulmonar, la aorta se encuentra “ a caballo”, por arriba de la pared que separa a los dos ventrículos y de la comunicación interventricular. La sangre no oxigenada que se encuentra del lado derecho del corazón, y por la dificultad que encuentra para pasar a la arteria pulmonar, llega, entonces, directamente a la aorta y provoca cianosis.
- Hipertrofia ventrículo derecho. Como consecuencia de la dificultad que tiene el ventrículo para expulsar sangre hacia los pulmones, se produce un aumento del grosor y tamaño del músculo cardíaco del ventrículo derecho.
Truncus arteriosus
The heart normally has two separate arteries that allow blood to be carried to the lungs and the body; in the case of the truncus arteriosus, the aorta and pulmonary artery arise as just one vessel that eventually divides into two separate arteries.
Pulmonary valve stenosis
The pulmonary valve has a narrowing that makes it more difficult for blood to flow to the lungs. The extreme degree of pulmonary stenosis is pulmonary atresia.
Pulmonary Atresia
In this heart disease, the pulmonary valve does not develop, and blood cannot pass from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery. As a consequence, the right ventricle is affected in its development and its size may be smaller than usual.
Coarctation of the Aorta
- The aorta, the main artery that carries oxygenated blood to the body, follows an upward path when leaving the heart, to later rotate, form an arch, distribute blood to the arms and head, and finally descend to carry blood throughout the body.
Coarctation of the aorta is a narrowing located at the junction between the part of the aortic arch and the descending part, often in the shape of an “hourglass”, which obstructs the flow of blood to the lower part of the body. This forces the left ventricle to work harder to transport blood through the narrowing. In newborns, coarctation of the aorta is frequently associated with a narrowing of the entire arch of the aorta, and surgical correction must therefore include not only the area of coarctation, but also the narrow area of the arch .
Stenotic Aórtica Valve
The aortic valve, located between the left ventricle and the aorta, does not form properly and has a narrowing that makes it difficult to pump blood to the body, forcing the heart to work harder.
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS)
It is a combination of severe abnormalities of the left portion of the heart and the great vessels. The deficient development of the aortic valve, which communicates the left ventricle with the aorta, causes an inadequate development of these two structures as well. At birth, children affected with this malformation depend completely on a single ventricle, the right one, and that the ductus arteriosus, which normally closes spontaneously, remains open (usually thanks to the administration of a drug called prostaglandin), to maintain the circulation of blood to the entire body while the surgery called the Norwood procedure is performed.
El tratamiento quirúrgico es muy complejo. Consiste en formar, a partir de la arteria pulmonar, cuyo desarrollo es normal, y de la aorta mal desarrollada, una vía de salida para la sangre hacia todo el cuerpo.
In addition, we treat a wide range of conditions, the most common are:
Heart rate disturbances:
Chest pain:
Heart murmur:
Syncope (fainting):
Systemic Arterial Hypertension:
And others more complex, which include:
Changes in heart rate or rhythm, where the heart may beat faster, slower, or irregularly. An arrhythmia may be harmless and be considered sinus (normal) or a sign of a heart problem.
It is one of the most common causes of consultation with a pediatric cardiologist, generally this pain can be benign, however, it is important to rule out a possible cardiological cause, especially when the pain is associated with exercise.
It is a sound generated by the turbulent passage of blood within the heart or the great vessels, which can be normal (innocent, functional or benign) that represent the majority of cases or secondary to heart disease.
It is the loss of alertness that occurs suddenly, completely and temporarily, which resolves spontaneously, most of the time without medical intervention. However, it can also be secondary to a heart problem.
It is the elevation of blood pressure above the expected figures of age, it can be secondary to heart or metabolic diseases or have a hereditary nature. It is important to identify and treat it early, to prevent long-term complications.
Anomalous left coronary artery of the pulmonary artery
Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR or PAPVR)
Aortopulmonary window
Bacterial Endocarditis
Heart Tumors
Cardiomyopathy
Congestive heart failure
Coronary Fistula
Cyanosis
Double outlet of the right ventricle
Ebstein anomaly
Edema
Ehlers Danlos syndrome
Hemitronco
Pulmonary hypertension
Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS)
Septal defects
Single ventricle
Kabuki syndrome
Kawasaki Disease
Loeys-Dietz syndrome
Marfan syndrome
Mitral valve stenosis
Pericarditis
Peripheral pulmonary stenosis
Pulmonary valve stenosis
Total anomalous connection of pulmonary veins