Pulmonary Atresia

Pulmonary Atresia is a congenital condition wherein the pulmonary valve tends to stop functioning. The pulmonary valve is almost closed which in turn results in the shunting of the blood. In simple terms it is a defect that is seen at the time of birth of the child which is mainly caused due to the abnormal development of the heart at the time when the child is still in its mother’s womb. To know in detail about this disorder, you first need to understand the working of the normal heart.

Each one of us knows that the size of the normal heart is as much as one’s fist. It has four chambers, that is the two upper chambers and the two lower chambers namely the atria and the ventricles respectively. The image below shows a healthy human heart.  

Between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery is the pulmonary valve. It allows the blood to flow into the pulmonary artery.Now that we have a rough idea of a normal heart and how it looks, we can have a discussion on Pulmonary Atresia. The infant, who has this defect, appears to be blue in color. The main reason for this is the supply of blood that is poor in oxygen. In case of a normal heart, blood flows from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery and then to the lungs. But in case of a child with Pulmonary Atresia, there is no flow of blood from the right ventricle to the lungs. Unfortunately, there is no one obvious reason for why they get this problem or how can this be avoided. However the main reason could be an opening in the atrial septum which let the blood to exit from the right atrium. The left ventricle does its job of pumping this blood to the aorta. But since the blood that is pumped is low in oxygen content, the infant is deprived of the required oxygen levels in the blood, thereby resulting appear blue in color. Hence pulmonary Atresia is also called as the blue-baby syndrome.

The image below shows a heart with Pulmonary Atresia disorder.

 
This defect is not a serious problem while the baby is in the mother’s womb because firstly the lungs don’t function and secondly it will have regular supply of oxygen from the placenta. But once the baby is born, the lungs need to do its job of providing oxygen because the placenta no longer can provide oxygen. So if there is no pulmonary valve opening, then the blood will have to find another way to reach the lungs and receive oxygen.

Pulmonary Atresia is not a common disorder. Most of the time it is likely to appear with other heart disorders. This problem is said to occur during the early weeks of pregnancy that is, during fetal development. As said earlier, there is no obvious reason for why this disorder occurs but it could sometimes be even associated with the genes wherein there is some defect in the gene ,or it could also be just because of some environmental exposure.

Let us now highlight a few common symptoms of Pulmonary Atresia. The main two symptoms of this disorder are that the new born baby soon turns blue in color and the second symptom would be difficulty in breathing or fast breathing. The extreme conditions could even lead to heart failure.

Pulmonary Atresia is a serious disorder, but with suitable treatment and care, the child can soon be healthy. If the child shows any of the symptoms, then get your child diagnosed properly. There are mainly two treatments for pulmonary atresia. Firstly, an IV medicine called prostagladin E1 is used to treat pulmonary atresia. This medication is given to keep the patent ductus arteriosus open. The second method is the heart catheterization which is a less invasive process. Ultimately, the patient will have to go through a series of surgeries in order to get cured completely.However, the first surgery must be done soon after the birth, where a shunt is created to improve the blood flow from the aorta to the lungs. The treatments can vary in results depending on your child’s health, medical background and also how on well your child responds to the medications. The child will be mostly kept under observation at the intensive care unit wherein the ventilator, intravenous catheter, chest tube and heart monitor are used to help the baby recover at a better pace. You will get enough advice from the pediatrician on how to take special care of the baby. For even more details please consult your physician.