Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffIn most cases, you can't do anything to prevent having a baby with a ventricular septal defect. However, it's important to do everything possible to have a healthy pregnancy. Here are the basics:
- Get early prenatal care, even before you're pregnant. Quitting smoking, reducing stress, stopping birth control — these are all things to talk to your doctor about before you get pregnant. Also, be sure you talk to your doctor about any medications you're taking.
- Eat a balanced diet. Include a vitamin supplement that contains folic acid. Also, limit caffeine.
- Exercise regularly. Work with your doctor to develop an exercise plan that's right for you.
- Avoid risks. These include harmful substances such as alcohol, cigarettes and illicit drugs. Also, avoid X-rays, hot tubs and saunas.
- Avoid infections. Be sure you're up to date on all of your vaccinations before becoming pregnant. Certain types of infections can be harmful to a developing fetus.
- Keep diabetes under control. If you have diabetes, work with your doctor to be sure it's well controlled before getting pregnant.
If you have a family history of heart defects or other genetic disorders, consider talking with a genetic counselor before getting pregnant.
- What are holes in the heart? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/holes/holes_whatare.html. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Ventricular septal defect (VSD). American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11066. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Webb GD, et al. Congenital heart disease. In: Libby P, et al., eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4106-1..50064-9--cesec134&displayedEid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4106-1..50064-9--cesec166&uniq=152762796&isbn=978-1-4160-4106-1#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4106-1..50064-9%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-1-4160-4106-1. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Dummer KB, et al. Pathophysiology and clinical features of isolated ventricular septal defects in infants and children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- McMackin,CJ, et al. Ventricular septal defect. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2009. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/152762796-4/871305879/1701/628.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-04134-8..50025-2--subchapter8_13432. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Congenital heart defects. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4565. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Dummer KB, et al. Management of isolated ventricular septal defects in infants and children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Prevention of infective endocarditis: Guidelines from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2007;116:1736.
- Genetic counseling for adults with congenital heart disease. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11083. Accessed Aug. 20, 2009.
