Heart defects affect 40,000 US babies every year but cutting edge AI and stem cell tech will save lives and even cure them in the womb

Katie Blue-Pugh was just a few hours old when her lips turned blue and panic suddenly set in for her parents and staff in a California maternity ward.Later that day, doctors discovered she had a major heart defect, born with a single ventricle.She was immediately sent by ambulance to a nearby hospital at University of California, San Francisco, for life-saving surgery.By the time Katie was 9 years old, she’d undergone multiple invasive procedures but still “couldn’t run across a playground without stopping.”“My lips were blue, my nails were blue, my oxygen saturation was at 60%, it’s supposed to be above 90%,” Blue-Pugh told The Post.The most common types of birth defects occur in the heart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They affect around one in every 100 live births, which is equivalent to 40,000 babies born in the US each year, or one child born every 15 minutes, according to the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI).Blue-Pugh is now 34 years old and thriving in Durham, North Carolina.While the Fontan procedure to “re-do the plumbing” in her heart has dramatically improved her quality of life, she still may need a heart transplant one day, according to doctors.“Thinking of one’s own mortality is scary,” she said.“I’m very grateful to be here.

I live a pretty much normal life.But thinking I might one day need a transplant and that my body can reject it gives me a lot of anxiety.”Groundbreaking new research in stem cell and Artificial Intelligence [AI] technology has raised hopes of eliminating all of these worries, and treat conditions like hers — even before birth.Top health researchers from MCRI in Australia have teamed with those from the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco on a new program to develop cutting-edge technologies to treat the underlying causes of childhood heart disease more effectively.Current treatment options such as transplants are inadequate as donor heart supply is ...