Tell me about VSD heart defects

[Katy]

If you have any experience with them, especially medium-large that "may require surgery" I'm really interested to hear.

[Gobblygook]

My 6 yo son had a VSD diagnosed before birth. It was repaired at about 18 months. Surgery went very, very smoothly. As heart surgery goes, it is one of the simplest procedures according to his cardiologist. He is doing great and was discharged from cardiology completely about a year after surgery. If you have more specific questions, I’m happy to help.

[Ottakee]

I had a large one repaired almost 45 years ago when it was cutting edge, experimental surgery.   I went in with a 50/50 chance of coming out of surgery.  We even moved 1/2 way around the country to have it done.

I am sporting a dacron patch and have had a full recovery.  Now surgery is much much less invasive and recovery time is so much quicker.

I am require no cardiac follow up at all 

 

[displace]

Most VSDs that are larger than small will need to be repaired.  A lot of repairs can be done by catheter (plugs and such) that don’t require open heart.  They like to wait until baby is older and bigger as the blood flow isn’t compromised much unless the hole is very large.  As baby grows and heart grows, the hole doesn’t grow and is relatively smaller, afaik.  Get a perinatologist involved and deliver at a children’s hospital attached with a Good NICU, JIC. VSD are common-ish, so seen regularly.  It may be a different scenario in higher altitude but IDK.

[bethben]

My son had a VSD (fairly large) repaired at 6 months old.  It is a "routine" surgery done quite a bit.  He is fine now and doesn't have any residual effects from it.  He doesn't even require antibiotics during oral procedures because it closed very well with no little holes.   He's 19 - no heart issues at all.

[bethben]

Also, with my son, he was in heart failure because it was so large.  They waited 6 months to get him to gain as much weight as he could before operating.  At 6 months, he stopped making any gains and started to lose what he had so it was the point of no return.  He’s done really great.

[scbusf]

My son was diagnosed with a VSD the day after he was born. He is followed by Cardiology and has required no treatment and no surgery.

[Lady Florida.]

I don't know a lot about it but I'm learning. Our one month old granddaughter has it and will be getting surgery before the end of the year. She has Down Syndrome and apparently it's pretty common among people with DS. 

[Lady Florida.]

18 hours ago, displace said:

  They like to wait until baby is older and bigger as the blood flow isn’t compromised much unless the hole is very large.  As baby grows and heart grows, the hole doesn’t grow and is relatively smaller, afaik.  Get a perinatologist involved and deliver at a children’s hospital attached with a Good NICU, JIC. VSD are common-ish, so seen regularly.  It may be a different scenario in higher altitude but IDK.

That's interesting. The cardiologist told dss and ddil that they want to do it between two and five months, but no later than five.

[displace]

3 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

That's interesting. The cardiologist told dss and ddil that they want to do it between two and five months, but no later than five.

I think it’s all relative, with surgeon and baby and size of VSD.  Operating on a 6 lb baby vs a 10 pound baby means the heart and chest is easier to operate on.  But if the hole is large, too much exchange of blood flow causes heart failure and lack of growth.  I’ll try to research ages of recommendations.

 

eta- lots of variation of age for recommended surgery, from months to years, depending on mostly size of VSD and how patient is doing.  Most moderate to larger ones seem to be done at less than one year.

Edited September 11, 2018 by displace

[Katy]

Thanks everyone.

[mom@shiloh]

My ds has one, but it's part of multiple heart defects.  His wasn't repaired until he was almost 3 because he was in an orphanage until about then. He was very small before the repair -- didn't even make it onto the growth charts.  He wasn't able to climb even one flight of stairs. He's 5'10" now and plays multiple sports. His repair was in 2002 and it was done open-heart, but included addressing some of his other heart issues. He sees a cardiologist once a year. 

 

[maize]

My youngest had a VSD that closed on its own by about 4 months.

[Mom25girls]

My second daughter was born with a very impressive VSD. She joined our family at 8 months old (and weighed almost 10 pounds). The cardiologist said that she had the largest size Medium VSD for classification. As she grew and gained weight, it slowly began to close. My daughter never needed surgery and is now a healthy and active D1 Athlete.

[kbutton]

I have one or two family members that had a VSD that closed on its own. A third has had one for over 40 years that hasn't been a problem. He had two other heart anomalies at birth, one of which required two surgeries. The other  heart defect he has is more common and more of a problem in later adulthood. The larger family picture includes lots of heart anomalies over lots of generations, and it's only recently become obvious that this is all related. Our family's issues include lots of aneurysms and valve issues over five generations and shows up in various branches of the family as well (cousins that are quite removed).

As others have said, it's common and sometimes is not a big deal at all. 

I would want to know if there are other issues and if other heart issues run in the family. It's becoming more recognized that some of these things cluster in families, and that various members can have different presentations, but it's really all the same disorder. Anyway--the point is that it could be a marker for other cardiac anomalies that no one realizes run in the family, so any history of sudden death, etc. could be part of the whole ball of wax. Just keep records and watch for other trends.