Hi,
After going through your baby's case I want to clear certain facts about ASD (
Atrial septal defect - opening in the heart wall which separate two upper chambers of heart, right and left atria).
Every child is born with an opening between the upper heart chambers. It's a normal fetal opening that allows blood to flow away from the lungs before birth. After birth, the opening is no longer needed and usually closes or becomes very small within several weeks or months.
Sometimes the opening is larger than normal and doesn't close after birth.
Children with an ASD often have no symptoms.
If the opening is small, it won't cause symptoms.
If the opening is large, the only abnormal finding may be a murmur (noise heard with a stethoscope) and other abnormal
heart sounds.
In children with a large ASD, there is extra load on lungs and their blood vessels and right side of heart.
Furosemide is a
diuretic (removes water from blood through urine and reduce blood volume) help in prevention of extra load on lung and heart.
It is a cheaper medicine (though I don't know the exact cost).
There are chances of developing infection of heart called
endocarditis in case of ASD but the chances are extremely low as compared to other heart defects.
As work load on lung is more in ASD there are chances of developing recurrent
lung infection.
So wait and watch and keep in mind some alarming sign and seek urgent medical attention as -
1) Symptoms of lung infection - cough, cold, fever.
2) Breathing difficulties.
3) Poor feeding, failure to gain weight, poor activity.
Keep in touch with your
pediatrician.