- Heart disease - how effective treatment?
- The circulatory system
Heart disease - a general term to describe a number of birth defects that affect the normal functioning of the heart. Heart disease is one of the most common types of birth defects - it is found, on average, 6 out of 1,000 live births.
Factors that increase the risk of heart disease:
- Down's syndrome - a genetic disorder that affects the normal physical development of children and causes difficulty in learning - from light to moderate.
- Some infections, transferred by the mother during pregnancy, such as rubella
Rubella - it is better to be vaccinated
.
- Poorly controlled diabetes is the first or second type of mother.
However, in most cases the development of heart disease occur for no apparent reason.
Forecast
The prognosis for patients with heart disease
Heart defects - time heals?
It depends on the type and severity of the heart defect. However, in most cases, quite favorable prognosis as often restore normal heart work can aid in surgery.
Thanks to advances in modern medicine, 85% of children with heart defects survive to adulthood. Despite the fact that adults with heart disease often require particularly close medical supervision, usually it is possible to maintain the quality of life is quite satisfactory.
Ventricular septal defect
Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is one of the most common types of congenital heart disease; it affects about 200 out of 100 000 live births. At the same time violation between the two lower pumping chambers of the heart (the left and right ventricle) is a hole.
When the blood pressure in the left half of the heart is increased, a part of blood which the heart must pump in the artery, through the hole flows into the right ventricle. The heart has to work harder to pump out excess blood from the right ventricle - the load on the heart in this case may be excessive.
Symptoms of VSD depends on the size of the hole. Small holes usually do not cause any symptoms, and often close on their own by the time when the child reaches the age of two years.
Medium sized openings usually cause noticeable symptoms that appear soon after birth, for example:
- Excessive sweating, especially at feeding time;
- Fatigue;
- The child is not growing fast enough;
- Frequent respiratory tract infections;
- Rapid breathing;
- Increased heart rate.
Large holes in the interventricular septum causing the same symptoms, but usually more severe.
A small number of children with VSD during physical activity may show signs of cyanosis (its symptoms - bluish color of the skin, especially around the lips and hands).
Atrial septal defect
Defect mezhdpredserdnoy septum (ASD) occurs about as often as the VSD.
In most cases, atrial septal defect does not cause any symptoms in childhood and is usually detected only when a person undergoes a medical examination for another reason.
If symptoms still present, they are generally mild to moderate; among them:
- Shortness of breath during physical activity;
- Slow weight gain and limited physical growth;
- Frequent respiratory tract infections.
If the ASD is not diagnosed and not treated before a person becomes an adult, he can develop the following complications:
Heart failure - a disorder in which the heart is unable to pump the amount of blood the body needs, resulting in symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue.
Pulmonary hypertension
Hypertension - Control your blood pressure
- Increase in blood pressure in the lungs, accompanied by dizziness
Dizziness - if the ground is slipping from under his feet
and shortness of breath.
Stenosis of pulmonary artery
This violation of the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs difficult as pulmonary valve is narrower than it should be. Pulmonary stenosis occurs in approximately 10% of patients with heart disease. Weak and moderate pulmonary stenosis usually does not cause noticeable symptoms, and in severe cases, the load on the heart increases significantly, because of what may appear symptoms such as shortness of breath during physical exertion and fatigue.