Cardiac Catheterization for VSD in Children
One percent of the world’s population is born with heart disease, making it the most common birth defect, according to the International Children’s Heart Foundation. In the developing world, many of these children remain undiagnosed and never undergo lifesaving surgery. Three-year-old YuXiu is among the lucky ones.
Born in the remote province of Gansu in northwest China, YuXiu contracted pneumonia when she was 40 days old.
During her hospital stay, doctors in the town of Leiwang found a large hole in the wall that separates the right and left pumping chambers of her heart – ventricular septal defect (VSD). One of the most common congenital heart defects, VSD can exist without symptoms, and the hole may eventually close as the wall continues to grow after birth.
But YuXiu’s condition worsened over time. Because of the size of the hole, too much blood was pumped to her lungs, which can lead to heart failure.
At the age of three, her doctors advised the family to seek help through the Chinese Agape Foundation, which contacted HeartGift in Texas. Each year, the HeartGift Foundation transports children from around the world for free surgery to correct life-threatening heart defects.
Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital is one of six participating hospitals in Texas and Louisiana that take on cases as a charitable endeavor, sending pediatric patients home to their own countries with repaired hearts and hope for the future.
By the time YuXiu arrived at Children’s Memorial Hermann in September 2011, she was a borderline case. “We were concerned that she might be inoperable due to the extent of damage to her heart and lungs,” says William Douglas, M.D., chief of pediatric cardiovascular surgery at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, head of the Children’s Memorial Hermann Heart Institute and associate professor of pediatric cardiac surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School. “Had she been born in the United States, the surgery would have been done when she was still an infant, between three to six months of age, limiting damage to the organs.”
The results of a cardiac catheterization procedure were more favorable than expected, and YuXiu was taken to surgery on September 15.
“We were fortunate that, at three years of age with such a large ventricular septal defect, she was still a good candidate for surgery,” Dr. Douglas says. “I was struck by the really generous support this family received from the Chinese community in Houston. The Houston Chinese Christian Church worked diligently to find a host family to provide translation, transportation and other support for the mother, who was in a foreign environment.”
“We are very fortunate to have been chosen by the HeartGift Foundation,” says YuXiu’s mother Yansheng, through a Memorial Hermann medical interpreter. “The foundation, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Dr. Douglas saved my daughter’s life. She would never have gotten such excellent treatment in my country. The staff and doctors were genuinely caring. It’s been a wonderful experience.”