2 days old with PFO and 8mm VSD

[Susan1986]

My son was 2 days old when a he was diagnosed with sepsis( final diagnosis-Early mortal sepsis) and a murmur. He was given TAXIM injection for his sepsis for 5 days.His murmur was found out to due to Large conoventricular VSD with outlet extension (Aorta Override the VSD),  large left to right shunt;flow gradient-18mmHg, PFO, and SDS.We were given Digoxin and FUROPED (each 0 .3ml). He was just 3 weeks old when all of a sudden he cried  and turned blue and passed away. Could you please tell me why he passed away suddenly. His only distress was that he was vomitting.Kindly reply me.Could he have been saved?

[Jeffrey R Boris, M.D.]

Dear Susan,

It is almost impossible to tell why your son died.  It is possible that he had tetralogy of Fallot, a complex congenital cardiac defect that is associated with the overriding aorta above a VSD.  It is usually associated with pulmonary stenosis (obstruction) that can be dynamic and suddenly become worse.  If he was dehydrated with throwing up, he may have had a hypercyanotic spell (also known as a tet spell).  However, he also may have had a stroke, since he had a large connection between the right and left side of the heart.  It would have been most helpful if an autopsy had been performed to truly get a sense of what happened.  At this point, with limited information, all I can do is to conjecture.

[Susan1986]

I dont wish to take more of your time.But could you please tell me what does echo cardiogram report citing " situs looping: SDS" means? Does it mean:
"SDS (S = situs viscero-atrialis solitus, D = D-loop of the ventricles, S = solitus, normally related great arteries)" a rare heart condition?

[Susan1986]

Thanks for your reply sir.

[Jeffrey R Boris, M.D.]

I will repeat my answer again, as well.  I really don't know, as I don't have enough information about him to be able to say what caused him to have his event that led to his death.  I would love to be able to tell you, but there is so much more information that I would need to be able to tell you what potentially could have been changed for him.

[Susan1986]

Am repeating my question again as I wanted to know whether we could have saved our son.My son's echo report shows  'situs looping'-SDS, PFO, large conoventricular VSD 8mm (override aorta), large left to right shunt, 18 mmHg. He was sent home with digoxin and furoped(0.3ml) to be reviewed after 2 weeks.He lost weight ,though he ws feeding okay. He vomitted yellow colour liquid and so we took him to doctor ,but he said its abdominal gas, and we came back home.But one night he suddenly awoke crying and didnt stop crying, his eyes rolled in, tongue came out, he turned blue and then was pale afterwards.. I wanted to know if CPR would have helped.He was only 20 days old.Could we have saved him?

[Susan1986]

Thank you sir.