Heart

[Momathorn]

My Grandson was told he has a hole in his heart,  what does that mean, and what are treatment options?  He is 12 years old and has Lowes Syndrome

[grendslori]

I think it is also important to say that ALL babies are born with a hole in the heart and that the hole generally closes in the first year of life. Those children have what is known as a Functional heart murmur. Sometimes the hole doesn't close and treatments depend on the symptomotology of the individual patient.

[kenkeith]

A hole in the heart is an abnormal opening of the wall (septum) that separates the upper chambers (atria) or the lower chambers (ventricles).  The condition results in an abnormal blood flow with some blood going from chamber to chamber (called shunting) rather than the regular pattern of oxygenated blood going into system circulation from the left side and the right side blood to the lungs. Also, sometimes there is double shunting going from the right side to the left side.  There can be other heart defects as part of syndrome.

If shunting is right to left side, the unfiltered blood will mix with the oxygenated blood and this unfiltered blood can carry clots and debris  and cause a stroke.  Shunting left to right chambers would mix oxygenated blood that would be recycled through the lungs. Often the hole in the upper chamber will close after birth, or the hole is not medically significant enough to require any surgery to close the hole with a graft; or the hole can be patched The patch plugs the hole on a temporary basis and allows the body sufficient time to replace it with healthy normal tissue. This usually happens within 30 days and the body would heal itself.

Hope this helps give you a perspective, and if you have any followup questions you are welcome to post.  Thanks for sharing and take care.