Testing his heart

Andrew, and all babies with CDH, have pulmanary hypertension. It happens because there aren't enough developed blood vessels in the lungs to handle the blood flow from the heart. There is a little valve in the heart (ductus arteriosus) that is open in utero but closes soon after birth in normal babies. This closes to in order to get more blood flow to the lungs when it is needed after birth. When this ductus doesn't close, it is called a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and means that the blood is going to other areas of the body instead of to the lungs.

For Andrew, his lungs don't have enough blood vessels to handle the blood flow from the heart when the PDA is closed. When blood doesn't flow it puts pressure against the heart, this is pulmanary hypertension. So up until now doctors gave him a medication (PGE) that keep the ductus open and hopefully gave his lungs enough time to develop some more blood vessels and handle the full blood flow. Over the last month, they have tried 3 times to take him off the PGE and let the PDA close. He didn't tolerate it very well and the echocardiogram showed that there would be damage to the heart if it was closed. They took him off the PGE again on Saturday and he has shown no signs of decline in the last 48 hours. That is great.

He had an ECHO today and we are waiting to hear the results.