Yesterday, the Beijing Winter Olympics came to an end, and many athletes left a deep impression on everyone. One of them is Sean White, who is the men's snowboarder at the Winter Olympics. As the most gold medalist in the history of the snowboarding program, many people do not know that Sean White is actually a patient with a complex congenital heart disease (hereinafter referred to as "congenital heart disease") Fallow tetralogy – a syndrome that contains 4 types of heart malformations. Heart experts pointed out that congenital heart disease is not a terminal disease, but a preventable and treatable disease, and life after cure is no different from ordinary people.
Complex congenital heart disease can be cured
Sean White celebrates after the final of the men's U-shaped track for snowboarding at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Sean White's athletic career was a glittering event – five appearances at the Winter Olympics, three Olympic gold medals, 15 gold medals at the World Extreme Games, and the Laureus World Sports Award for Best Extreme Athlete. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the 31-year-old won his third Olympic gold medal, which shocked ice and snow fans! The Beijing Winter Olympics is the curtain call for Sean White's career in sports competitions, although he regretted that he only won the fourth place in the final, but it still did not affect him to become one of the best athletes in the history of the Winter Olympics, even Gu Ailing is his little fan.
In fact, in addition to Sean White, there are many athletes and successful people who have achieved great results in professional fields who also suffer from congenital heart disease. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a well-known bodybuilder, strengthlifter, actor and former Governor of California, USA, is a patient with a bilobasic aortic valve and aortic valve stenosis, and has undergone 3 major heart surgeries, including the extremely difficult Ross surgery. He served two terms as governor between the ages of 56 and 64, and starred in several Hollywood action blockbusters such as the Terminator series until the age of 72. Marathon runner Jane Lee, who also suffers from Tetralogy Fallot, also underwent pulmonary valve replacement surgery again in adulthood, went on to pursue a Ph.D. after surgery, and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Washington's School of Social Work. Xie Yumei, deputy director of the Department of Cardiology and Pediatrics of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, said that these examples tell us that congenital heart disease is not terrible! Even complex congenital heart disease like Tetralogy of Fallot can be cured and has a good effect.
Congenital heart disease is not terminal
According to reports, children with Tetralogy of Fallot have been commonly known as "blue baby", these children due to lesions in the body to produce a mixture of arterial blood and venous blood, after birth will be due to lack of oxygen gradually appear cyanosis, that is, the skin, mucous membranes are bluish purple, rather than the normal rosy complexion, older children can be shown as walking or playing fatigue, there is a special position of legs flexion, squatting for a moment. Sean White underwent three major open heart surgeries, two of which were before the age of 5. But this did not prevent him from pushing the limits and writing a legend on the ice and snow field, which also made the general public re-aware of congenital heart disease.
Congenital cardiovascular disease is the most common type of congenital malformations. Mild cases are asymptomatic, and during physical examination, it is found that severe patients may have dyspnea after activity, cyanosis, syncope, etc., and older children may have growth retardation. As the most common birth defect, congenital heart disease has made many people talk about discoloration, believing that this disease has no cure, is an incurable disease, and even if it can be cured, it will cost a lot of money. At the same time, grassroots doctors who have not undergone cardiology training may also have insufficient understanding of congenital heart disease, and are not familiar with the diagnosis and treatment timing of congenital heart disease, resulting in misjudgment of the condition of some children. "This is a misunderstanding of everyone, congenital heart disease is not a terminal disease, but a preventable and treatable disease." Xie Yumei pointed out that children with mild illness can even be followed up only in outpatient clinics without the need for surgical treatment. At the same time, with the continuous development of cardiac intervention surgery and cardiac surgery, the treatment of congenital heart disease has reached a very high level, and some special types of congenital heart disease can even be intervened in the womb at about 28-32 weeks of pregnancy, and minimally invasive surgical methods are used to treat and improve long-term prognosis. Due to the exact treatment effect, most of the congenital heart disease can be cured through early diagnosis and early treatment, and the cured children can study, live and work like normal people.
These tests should be done at 18 to 24 weeks of pregnancy
The cardiovascular doctor of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital examines the child.
According to Xie Yumei, the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital took the lead in proposing the "integrated treatment of congenital heart disease" model in the country in 2004, established a Screening Network for Congenital Heart Disease in Guangdong Province, improved and standardized the screening of congenital heart disease and prenatal consultation of grass-roots doctors, and established 42 screening points covering Guangdong Province, cities and counties, and can now diagnose whether the fetus has serious congenital heart disease as early as 16 weeks of pregnancy, so that these children can get better guidance for pregnancy and postpartum diagnosis and treatment under the guidance of specialist doctors. The national key research and development program project currently undertaken by the Department of Cardiology and Mother's Fetal Disease advances the diagnosis and treatment and prevention of congenital heart disease to the fetal stage, and carries out tertiary prevention and full life cycle management for children with congenital heart disease; prenatal prevention before pregnant mothers, prenatal screening and diagnosis in the fetal period, follow-up and treatment after birth, and extends treatment and follow-up to adulthood and elderly age.
In response to the issues that parents are most concerned about, such as the life expectancy and intelligence of the child, Xie Yumei said that in fact, they are no different from normal people. For example, ventricular septal defects, one of the most common congenital heart diseases, can have a natural healing rate of up to 20% after birth, and most children can be cured in the preschool age through minimally invasive interventional cardiac catheterization that is only the size of a grain of rice and does not require suturing, and can go to school and live normally soon after surgery. How to detect whether the fetus has congenital heart disease early? Xie Yumei suggested that pregnant mothers can perform fetal heart echocardiography at 18-24 weeks of pregnancy to screen whether the fetus has congenital heart disease; after the fetus is diagnosed with congenital heart disease, professional consultation and prenatal assessment can be carried out in the children's heart specialist clinic, and the postnatal diagnosis and treatment plan is planned for the children with congenital heart disease before and after childbirth, so that children with congenital heart disease can also live like normal children, and even participate in competitive sports.
Nandu reporter: Zeng Wenqiong
Intern: Xin Chen
Correspondent: Jin Ting