Heart defects are congenital or acquired abnormalities in the structure of the heart. In most children, improper connections of the heart chambers or defective structure of the heart valves are detected and diagnosed immediately after birth, during a routine visit to the pediatrician, or when symptoms characteristic of heart defects worsen. Check what symptoms indicate a heart defect. What tests can diagnose a heart defect? ​​

A heart defectis a congenital or acquired abnormality of the anatomy of the heart (its walls or partitions), as well as arterial or venous openings, or large vessels near the heart. The result of a heart defect is disturbance of blood flow between the cavities of the heart, atria and chambers, or between the cavities and large vessels, resulting in damage to the heart and circulatory failure.

Congenital heart disease in newborns and infants - symptoms

Congenital heart defectsdevelop between 3 and 8 months of fetal life (this is when the hearts are formed). In newborns, it is difficult to detect a heart defect because it usually shows no symptoms. However, if they do appear, they are most often:

  • CharacteristicHeart murmurs , also known as organic murmurs, which a doctor may hear while auscultating a child in the first days of his life, usually indicate narrowing of the arterial openings, atrio-valve insufficiency ventricular or a small defect in the interventricular septum.
  • Central cyanosis that occurs in an infant is associated with the developmental form of Fallot's syndrome (a complex, cyanotic, congenital heart defect).
  • Circulatory failure occurs very rarely in newborns and infants. Most often it indicates a defect with the duct-dependent systemic flow (blood flow to the body depends on the patent ductus arteriosus of Botalla).

Increasing symptoms of circulatory failure in infancy indicate defects with leaks at the level of the ventricles or great arteries (e.g. large interventricular defect, patent ductus arteriosus).

  • Whistling when breathing and having difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) in infants are symptoms of vascular rings (large arteries that run abnormally). Swallowing disorders usually appear at the time of insertionsolid food diets.
  • You can sometimes notice a deformity of the chest (excessive bulging of the sub-cardiac region - the so-called cardiac hump).

Heart defects in older children and adults - symptoms of heart failure

Congenital heart diseasein older children and adults can lead to heart failure, which pumps insufficient blood. In older children, the cause of heart failure is mainly myocarditis or cardiomyopathy, and less frequently acquired heart defects. These usually trigger heart failure in adults:

  • Cramp murmurs that are first heard at a later age. They indicate: moderate arterial stenosis, interatrial defect, mitral valve prolapse syndrome, or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
  • Fainting may indicate a constriction in the outflow from the left ventricle. They may also be a symptom of advanced primary pulmonary hypertension and significant cardiac arrhythmias or conduction disorders.
  • Cyanosis is a disease whose essence is insufficient oxygenation in the blood. Cyanosis occurs when the amount of unoxidized hemoglobin reaches 5% or more. As a result of deoxidation of blood in peripheral tissues, e.g. ear lobes, fingertips, lips, characteristic bruises appear. Cyanosis most often results from the development of pulmonary hypertension (Eisenmenger's syndrome) on the basis of previously untreated defects with high-pressure intracardiac or vascular shunts.

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You can then observe symptoms such as:

  • breathing disorder (dyspnea)
  • less mobility
  • exercise intolerance and fatigue fast
  • chest pains
  • fainting
  • disturbance of heart rhythm, palpitations
  • too slow weight gain
  • liver enlargement (seen in the course of congestive heart failure)
  • abnormalities of filling, tension and symmetry of the peripheral pulse measured at the extremities.

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Diagnosis of congenital heart defects. What tests will reveal a heart defect? ​​

1. The echocardiographic examination of the heart allows for an accurate imaging of the heart cavities, valves and pericardium. The test is performed using the head placed on the chest. In some cases, you canintroduce it into the esophagus.

2. Chest radiography (X-ray) - enables the assessment of the location, size and shape of the heart and the vascular pattern of the pulmonary fields.

3. The hyperoxia test allows for the differentiation of pulmonary and cardiac causes of central cyanosis in newborns and infants.

Complementary tests

Cardiac catheterization is an invasive test that involves inserting a catheter into the heart cavity and large vessels through a percutaneous puncture of a vein or artery. Catheterization is performed only when non-invasive methods (e.g. echocardiography) do not provide complete diagnostic information necessary for treatment.

In turn, an electrocardiogram (EKG) is a complementary test because it can confirm a heart defect, but cannot rule it out.

Category:

Cardiology