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"   Question I have just been told my four-year-old may have a small hole in his heart (valve problem).  Can you give me any information on this condition? We are awaiting a colour ultrasound.    Answer Thank you for your email. A hole in the heart is medically known as a septal defect - where there is a hole in the partition between the left and right sides of the heart.  The seriousness of the condition depends on the size and position of the hole.  The hole may exist between the top chambers of the heart, the atria, the lower chambers or the ventricles, but in either type the hole allows freshly oxygenated blood in the left half of the heart under high pressure to mix with deoxygenated blood under lower pressure in the right half of the heart.  This in turn means that the body is supplied with blood with less oxygen in it and that the lungs cannot function properly because of increased pressure of the blood flowing through them.  Children with a hole in the heart may have other heart abnormalities associated with them, such as a problem with one of the four main valves of the heart.  On a positive note there are some holes in the heart that are very small and barely cause any functional problems. Some even close up on their own given time.  The fact that your son is four and has only now been suspected of having a small hole means that his condition cannot be too severe at all.  The colour ultrasound that you are waiting for will give a good idea of how much blood mixing, if any, is occurring between the two sides of the heart and will help the doctors make a decision about what, if anything, needs to be done.  Sometimes it is possible to cover the hole using a little device, which is introduced through a fine catheter (tube) introduced through a blood vessel at a site very distant from the heart.  This means a heart operation itself can be avoided. I expect your son would have been examined by the doctor who heard a murmur, which is a type of abnormal heart sound made by the turbulence of blood flow which the doctor hears through his stethoscope.  Often such murmurs turn out to be very innocent and require no treatment whatsoever.  The fact your son is being investigated can only be a good thing. Yours sincerely The NetDoctor Medical Team Last updated 12.06.2014 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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