Congenital Cardiac Defects in the United States Approximately 40,000 infants are born each year in the United States with congenital heart defects (CHD), and heart defects are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths in the United States. While advances in surgical treatment, cardiac bypass, and post-operative management have improved mortality for children born with heart defects, these children continue to have significant morbidity related to post-operative malnutrition, multiple organ dysfunction (MODS), and sepsis. One proposed mechanism for post-operative sepsis and MODS is via loss of intestinal epithelial barrier function (EBF).