Congenital heart disease (CHD) often poses a great diagnostic challenge for physicians. Despite antenatal diagnostic tests advancing to a great level, accurate diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart diseases is mandatory. These diseases range from mild to severe life-threatening scenarios sometimes having vague presentations making diagnosis even more difficult. Early diagnosis and treatment are usually lifesaving.1 Congenital heart diseases can often be classified as cyanotic and acyanotic based on clinical presentation. After birth, fetal structures like foramen ovale, ductus venosus and ductus arteriosus are no longer required for survival and they begin to close.2 Persistence of such structures after birth is a sign of congenital heart diseases. High mortality contributing diseases which require prompt intervention include hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), coarctation of aorta (COA), interrupted aortic arch (IAA), transposition of the great arteries (TGA), total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR), critical aortic stenosis (AS) pulmonary atresia (PA) and tricuspid atresia (TA).3 They contribute to significant mortality amongst neonatal age groups. Recognition of congenital heart diseases based on clinical fractures like cyanosis, tachycardia, tachypnoea, irritability, refusal to feed stabilisation and prompt referral to tertiary cardiac centre are critical to improve outcomes in neonates with CHDs, seizures, murmur etc is diagnostically challenging but lifesaving. Life-threatening CHDs may perhaps present with cyanosis, respiratory distress, shock or collapse; all of these are also frequent clinical presentation of various respiratory problems or sepsis in newborn. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are the only life saving measures.
A case of an 81-year-old woman with ‘broken-heart syndrome’ after a house fire
