“Blue babies” can?t talk. Fifty years ago when something went wrong with the development of a newborn?s heart, the infant?s life expectancy was one year.
Even 30 years ago, doctors did not operate, said Dr. Richard Jonas, chief of cardiovascular surgery at Children?s National Medical Center in Washington. Doctors performed some outpatient procedures to try to improve the oxygen mixture in their blood, then sent “blue babies” home.
“Doctors would wait till they were 5 or 6 before operating,” Jonas said.
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Heart surgery in children started Nov. 29, 1944, with the first blue baby operation performed by Dr. Alfred Blalock at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The Blalock-Taussic shunt procedure grafted a joint between arteries feeding the body and those sending blood to the lungs.
“They only operated on selected abnormalities, correcting blood flow a little bit so the patient does not die,” said Dr. Mary Donofrio, director of the fetal heart program at the medical center. “In the past 20 years or so, we?ve started doing open heart surgery and correcting things.”
One in 125 children in the United States will be born with some form of congenital heart defect, according to the March of Dimes. Some, like small holes between the ventricles of the heart, may never cause serious trouble. In more severe cases, arteries and veins are tangled or the heart is half-formed. Surgery is the only option.
About 35,000 babies are born each year with some type of congenital heart defect, according to the American Heart Association. Congenital heart disease is responsible for more deaths in the first year of life than any other birth defects. Many of these defects need to be followed carefully. Some heal over time, while others will require treatment.
A child?s chance for survival with even the most severe defects is 85 percent or higher, Donofrio said. Children?s National Medical Center?s surgeons perform more than 500 open heart surgeries a year, with those numbers projected to climb as new procedures develop.
“The earlier you restore the normal circulation, the better chance the baby has of growing up normally,” Donofrio said.
Ava Rohatgi, 21 months, is one of the lucky ones.
She runs around like any other child on the playground, said her mother, Kerry. “She talks like crazy; she probably has the vocabulary of a 3-year-old,” she said.
When Ava was born, doctors found the major arteries coming out of her heart were switched. Her body wasn?t getting the strong flow of oxygenated blood the heart was meant to pump from the lungs.
Within days, she underwent surgery and, except for some irregular heart rhythm, hasn?t looked back, her mother said. “We went to the zoo just yesterday, and she keeps trying to go back.”
Though she will be on a first-name basis with her cardiologist for the rest of her life, Donofrio said there is no reason to expect children like Ava can?t live a full and healthy life. “Children heal faster than grownups. It?s amazing just how fast they get better,” she said.
