Overview

What is Tricuspid Atresia in Children?

Tricuspid atresia is a severe congenital disability involving the heart that a child is born with. Essentially, it is a condition in which a person's tricuspid valve fails to develop correctly between the right upper chamber, or atrium of the heart, and the right lower chamber, known as the ventricle. Instead, a solid part of tissue develops in the place of the valve, obstructing the inflow of blood from the right patio to the right ventricle. This obstruction prevents the oxygen-poor blood from flowing through the body to the lungs to collect fresh oxygen. The baby will then not acquire enough oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. Tricuspid atresia is one of the complicated conditions that come in types, each bearing its level of inflexibility. The symptoms and treatment will depend on the type of tricuspid atresia a child has.

What are the types of tricuspid atresia in children?

Doctors categorize tricuspid atresia cases into various types.

Type I is found among up to 80% of all affected people. Types I and II also have three sub-types that correspond to the presence of other heart defects.

Type I: Your baby's pulmonary artery and aorta, or, as some say, "great arteries," are in the right places, but it could have a hole in the wall of its ventricle (ventricular septal defects), or something is wrong with the pulmonary valve.
Type II: Your baby's pulmonary artery and aorta are switcheroos. But there is this ventricular septal defect, and perhaps your baby's pulmonary valve is abnormal.
Type III: This is the rarest type of the three. You have multiple abnormalities in regard to the location of your infant's pulmonary roadway and aorta and your baby's right and left ventricles.

What are the signs and symptoms of a Child with Tricuspid Atresia?

Most cases of Tricuspid Atresia present symptoms days after birth, sometimes as early as the first week. Symptoms may vary in consistency depending on the type and co-existing defects. Other potential symptoms to be observed include:

Cyanosis: bluish or purplish coloring of the skin, lips, and nails due to the cause of low blood oxygenation.
Shallow respiration or breathlessness: The baby is unable to breathe properly due to fearful oxygen turns.
Inability to feed and gain weight: The baby may get exhausted promptly while feeding and fail to gain weight due to deficiency of oxygen and energy.
Heart murmur: A doctor can observe abnormal heart sounds through his stethoscope.
Tiredness and weakness: The child may often witness frazzle and weakness.
Clubbing (older children): In older children, the fingertips and toes seem to be rounded and clubbed.

What causes tricuspid atresia in a child?

It is not usually known what causes this condition. However, it is assumed that sometimes it results from malformation in the formation of the heart structures during in-utero life. The following are some of the implied risk factors that might predispose people:

Inherited defects: For instance, Down syndrome may be the underlying cause.
Maternal infections: Congenital viruses like rubella within the first month of pregnancy can be a cause.
Family history: A family history of a congenital heart defect seems to increase the risk but only slightly.
Environmental factors: Other factors like uncontrolled diabetes or smoking could have some indirect role. Certain specifics during gestation also may be involved.

How is tricuspid atresia diagnosed?

A doctor can diagnose tricuspid atresia either before or after the birth of your baby. Ultrasound helps develop an opinion before birth. After the child is born, your doctor sometimes hears a heart murmur through their stethoscope.

What tests will be done to diagnose tricuspid atresia?

A doctor can usually diagnose tricuspid atresia with an echocardiogram. An echocardiogram is actually an ultrasound using high-pitched sound waves that bounce off the child's heart to develop moving images on a videotape screen. The echocardiogram can describe how blood flows in and even display evidence that the tricuspid valve is absent and the right ventricle is smaller than normal.

A key is that blood must circulate through holes in your child's septum, which means the wall between chambers of the heart, or other heart defects, like a ventricular septal defect or an atrial septal defect.

An ultrasound produces images using offensive sound swells. Your provider may use it to check your child's heart before birth. A more general ultrasound showing possible tricuspid atresia provides better views through a fetal echocardiogram. In advanced countries, providers diagnose most babies before birth. Other individual tests (after birth) include:

Cardiac catheterization.
Electrocardiogram (EKG).
Oximetry (using detectors to detect a baby's oxygen position).
Chest X-ray.

How is tricuspid atresia treated?

Medications at delivery can keep the patent ductus arteriosus open in infants with tricuspid valve atresia. This additional blood vessel that usually closes off by birth lets blood from the aorta flow into the pulmonary artery. The normal flow may not be available for oxygenation of your baby's lungs to get oxygen this way.

The drugs may also be employed to assist in making the heart muscle of your baby stronger
Cells absorb more fluid
A medical doctor usually treats this condition through surgery within 24 to 48 hours from the moment a baby is born.

What am I able to do to decrease my baby's risk?

Although the doctors are not aware of what the actual cause of tricuspid atresia is, they understand that this congenital heart condition occurs before birth. However, there are some things you can do if you are or will become pregnant and will have limitations on the possible risk your baby may have to develop with tricuspid valve atresia and other complex heart defects.

Specific care if you have an inherent heart defect yourself for a high-risk gestation
Vaccination for German measles before pregnancy
Control of diabetes
No alcohol drinking during pregnancy
Avoid certain specifics similar to those ordered for seizures or acne during pregnancy.

Why Tender Palm Super-Speciality Hospital for Pediatric Tricuspid Atresia?

Tender Palm Hospital has the most experienced team of Pediatric Cardiologists, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeons, and diagnostics with the latest and International standard infection control measures in Lucknow, India. The Pediatric cardiac science centre team has decades of experience in successfully treating Pediatric Tricuspid Atresia.