Congenital Heart Disease
Congenital heart diseases are abnormalities of the heart's structure and function caused by abnormal or disordered heart development before birth. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a broad term that can describe a number of different abnormalities affecting the heart. Congenital heart disease is, by definition, present at birth although its effects may not be obvious immediately. In some cases, such as coarctation of the aorta, it may not present itself for many years and a few lesions such as a small ventricular septal defect (VSD) may never cause any problems and are compatible with normal physical activity and a normal life span. In order to qualify the Social Security Administration (SSA) will be looking to make sure the claimant has symptomatic congenital heart disease documented by appropriate images of the heart. Children are treated the same way as adults in regard to congenital heart disease.
For this condition to be severe enough to meet the Social Security Administration's listing the claimant must have:
- Cyanosis at rest; OR
- Intermittent right to left shunting of blood within the heart resulting in cyanosis on exertion and with an arterial oxygen pressure of 60 mm Hg or less; OR
- Chronic heart failure with evidence of abnormal function of the heart's ventricle; OR
- Recurrent arrhythmias; OR
- Secondary pulmonary vascular obstructive disease with an average pulmonary arterial blood pressure elevated to at least 70% of the average systemic arterial pressure - blood flow through the lungs.