Dextrocardia in children

What is dextrocardia in children?

Dextrocardia is a condition that affects the location of your child’s heart. Dextrocardia occurs when your child is born with their heart on the right side of their chest instead of the left side of their chest. While dextrocardia itself doesn’t cause any health problems, some children have related issues and other complex problems in their heart and other organs that need medical attention.

Children’s Health offers care from some of the nation’s top pediatric heart specialists and we have seen many children with dextrocardia. This gives us the expertise and experience to help your child achieve the healthiest possible life.

What are the different types of dextrocardia?

Dextrocardia can occur in different ways.

• Isolated dextrocardia means that although your child’s heart is on the right side of their body, they have no other problems with their heart or body structure.
• Dextrocardia with situs inversus - In this case, your child’s heart and other organs in their chest or abdomen, such as their lungs or liver, are reversed. However, it might not cause your child any problems at all. You should just be aware of the condition in case they ever need surgery, such as having an appendix removed.
• Dextrocardia with situs inversus totalis - With this type of dextrocardia, the position of all of your child’s organs in their chest and abdomen are reversed. Again, this might not cause any health problems for your child.

Dextrocardia with associated heart abnormalities may include:

• Arteries connected to the wrong spots in the heart
• Ventricular septal defect (hole in the heart)
• Narrow or misshapen heart valves
• Single ventricle instead of two ventricles
• Poorly formed or missing walls separating the four chambers of the heart

How is dextrocardia in children diagnosed?

Many times, doctors notice dextrocardia before a child is born during a prenatal ultrasound exam. They might recommend you get more ultrasounds of your baby to check for other problems in the heart.

After your child is born, their doctor may perform tests to make sure they don’t have other structural heart defects or a missing spleen. These tests might include an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) and blood tests.

Some children are older before they are diagnosed. Your pediatrician might notice their heart sounds are louder on the right than on the left.

• If your child doesn't show any signs or symptoms of heart problems, they might not be diagnosed with dextrocardia unless they have a chest X-ray for other issues.
• If your child does have symptoms of a heart problem, they may need tests such as an echocardiogram to look at their heart in motion.

What causes dextrocardia in children?

We still don’t know what causes dextrocardia. It is likely due to a change in your child’s DNA, but it’s not currently linked to any genes they inherit from their parents.

How is dextrocardia in children treated?

Isolated dextrocardia with no other issues doesn’t need treatment. When it is associated with other heart defects, your child might need medicines or surgical care to help their heart to work properly.