What are the causes and symptoms of ventricular septal defect?
Congenital heart defects are errors in the development of the heart structure. They occur early in the life of the embryo. There is no known cause of congenital heart defects. They can be associated with several diseases, such as German measles (rubella) and Down syndrome. Genetics does not seem to play a role in ventricular septal defect. People with a heart defect do not have an increased chance of passing it on to their children. Symptoms result from a reduced amount of oxygen going to the body. Symptoms are proportional to the size of the defect. They may appear at any time in the life of the child. In cases where the hole in the septum is very small, few or no symptoms may appear and the child may develop normally. In cases where the ventricular septal defect is large, the newborn will shows signs of heavy breathing, sweating, and feeding difficulties. Children with this defect tire easily. Ventricular septal defect can also result in stunted growth resulting from insufficient oxy
