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| FROM THE GUEST EDITOR’S DESK |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 4
| Issue : 3 | Page : 243 |
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Echo in Congenital Heart Disease
Munesh Tomar
Consultant Pediatric Cardiologist, LLRM Medical College, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India
| Date of Submission | 30-Sep-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 02-Oct-2020 |
| Date of Web Publication | 18-Dec-2020 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Munesh Tomar
LLRM Medical College, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/jiae.jiae_64_20
How to cite this article:
Tomar M. Echo in Congenital Heart Disease. J Indian Acad Echocardiogr Cardiovasc Imaging 2020;4:243 |
Pediatric cardiology has achieved various milestones in India in the last three decades or so. We are able to intervene and save more and more of these babies due to our endeavor to evolve continuously in terms of early recognition, timely referral, accurate diagnosis, and early intervention.
Accurate diagnosis has been the sine quo non of overall optimal outcome of these babies. Various modalities of diagnosis and treatment have evolved over a period of time, namely, echocardiography, computed tomography pulmonary angiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and electrophysiological studies.
Echocardiography is the most crucial noninvasive tool of investigation, not only providing the structural and functional assessment of heart, helping in decision-making, but also playing a vital role in assessing the adequacy of intervention.
Different modes/machines of echocardiography (two-dimensional echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, Doppler assessment, color flow mapping, and fetal echocardiography) are being used in different clinical scenarios, such as for outpatient's assessment, for sick intensive care units, and in preoperative/postoperative settings.
The incidence of congenital cardiac defect is approximately 8/1000 live births as per the available data. If we consider the Crude birth rate of India (18.2/1000 population “South Asian: India” CIA.gov. Central Intelligence Agency retrieved February 7, 2020), 1,892,800+ children are born every year with congenital cardiac defects.
Moreover, there is functional cardiac involvement in most of the systemic diseases, namely, birth asphyxia, meconium aspiration syndrome, storage disorders, hematological disorders (anemia and leukemia), infective and inflammatory pathologies (bacterial endocarditis, cardiac tuberculosis, pericardial effusion, myocarditis, Kawasaki disease, etc.), connective tissue disorders, endocrinal diseases, nutritional factors (Vitamin D deficiency, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, thiamine deficiency, etc.), musculoskeletal dysplasia, and chemo and radiotherapy.
On the other hand, preterm babies have different cardiac issues to deal with, for example, persistent ductus arteriosus, precipitous fall in pulmonary vascular resistance, and immature myocardium.
If we combine both the structural and functional cardiac issues, the burden of cardiac disease in pediatric age group is huge.
Now, the question will arise “Who will evaluate these little ones?”
“Children” are not “small adults.” Their problems are unique to them. Hence, to tackle the issue, one needs to understand the “pediatric heart disease.”
This Focus Issue on “congenital heart disease” is a small effort to cover the basic topics of congenital cardiac ailments and echocardiographic approach in the evaluation of these patients.
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