Save a heart

By Rebecca Kwei
With Valentine’s Day approaching (February 14) what better gift can you give than to save a heart?
Already, more than 300 babies are waiting for assistance to enable them undergo surgery for heart defects at the Cardiothoracic Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
According to a Heart Surgeon at the centre, Dr Baffoe Gyan, although the Ghana Heart Foundation takes care of 50 per cent of the cost of heart surgeries, the other half which has to be borne by patients Is always a problem because heart surgeries are expensive.
The cost ranges from ¢3,500 to ¢12,000, depending on the complexity of the case.
Dr Gyan said the incidence of children reported with heart defect, aged between six months and two years was increasing, and that could be attributed to public education, awareness and early diagnosis.
However, he noted, that although the number of heart defect cases as well as trained doctors were increasing, the Cardio centre was over-stretched and the had had to cancel surgery appointments due to lack of space in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). That, he said, had affected the number of surgeries done monthly.
He added that the centre performed between three and four open-heart surgeries a week, most of the cases for children.
In 2011, the centre had 15,763 Out Patients Department (OPD) cases, out of which 9,097 were cardiology cases. The surgical cases were 5,666 out of which 449 operations were carried out.
In 2012 there was an increase in the number of patients in all the departments of the centre with about 1,876 new cases seen at the OPD and 567 operations — 67 to 74 per cent of them being children.
Dr Gyan explained that ‘hole in heart’ was the simple term for congenital heart disease which was a defect or malformation of the heart and great vessels.
He said there were different types of heart defects— from the simple to complex ones.
However, the outcome of an operation on a simple heart defect in children was good and the child can go on to live a normal life, adding that “even if he wants to be a boxer in future, he can”.
Explaining what causes some children to be born with heart defects, he said, there was no specific cause but there are various factors that predispose one to have a heart condition.
For instance, he said it could be genetic as some families are born with heart problems but the gene is unknown and if a pregnant woman gets an infection such as German Measles, there was the possibility of the child being born with a heart problem.
Additionally, he said getting pregnant when one was aged below 18 years or having children late in life may put one at risk of giving birth to a child with a heart defect.
Other factors such as malnutrition, diabetes and goitre can put one at risk of giving birth to a child with heart condition.
With regard to prevention, one issue that was of utmost importance to Dr Gyan was for women to break the culture of hiding pregnancies.
He said when some women are pregnant, they want to hide the pregnancy and not seek antenatal care or advice from their doctors.
He said it was important for women to plan their pregnancies with the view that about three months before they get pregnant, they would go for medical screening in order to be sure that they are healthy, have no infection and their protein levels are sufficient for they and the babies.
Dr Gyan said once a lady is pregnant, it should not pass the 11th week before she tells her doctor because the heart is formed between the fourth and eighth week of pregnancy. That, he said, would prevent the doctor from prescribing certain drugs for the pregnant woman, especially if she has certain diseases like diabetes or hypertension which may affect the baby.
Dr Gyan said it was also important for women to avoid marrying someone who is a close family relation, especially if there is a family history of heart diseases.
According to him, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel since there is a solution for both children and adults who have heart defects.
He said there were well-trained doctors at the centre to handle cases and once your children is diagnosed of having a hole in heart, he or she is not condemned but the important thing is to seek medical attention early.
He added that doctors have also been trained so they are able to detect if new-born babies have heart problems.
“Our aim is to see babies in their first month of delivery so we can assess and advise. Most hole-in-heart patients will need surgery to close them”, he emphasised.
He said there were also common signs that mothers can observe which may be an indication of a heart problem. These include if a baby gets tired easily while suckling the mother’s breast for a few minutes and does not want to be breast-fed again.
Additionally, if a child is crying and the lips turn darker than normal; tongue changes colour and the nails also become darker, this should be reported to a doctor so that the child can be examined.
Furthermore, he said, tiredness with recurrent chest infection are also signs of heart defects and such cases must be reported to the doctor.