The heart is like a “perpetual motion machine” in the human body. It maintains the normal operation of various functions of our body by continuously “pumping blood”. Once there is a problem with the heart, it will affect the human body. cause great damage.
Zhang Meng once revealed in a variety show that her daughter suffered from congenital heart disease, for which she felt very guilty and self-blame, and once doubted whether it was because of some hidden disease in her body, hereditary given to the child.
In general, there are two main types of heart disease in children, congenital heart disease and acquired heart disease.
Congenital Heart Disease
Congenital heart disease, also known as congenital heart disease, is a congenital malformation caused by the abnormal development of the heart and the large blood vessels that connect to the heart during fetal life. It mainly includes the following four categories:
Cardiac ventricular septal defect
The heart has a left ventricle and a right ventricle. Normally, these two ventricles do not communicate with each other. They are separated by a membrane called the interventricular septum.
Cardiac ventricular septal defect means that in the process of embryonic development, there will be some factors that cause the ventricular septum to not fully grow and leave holes. Then, the heart will have a ventricular septum when the baby is born. defect.
Cardiac ventricular septal defect is one of the most common congenital heart diseases in babies. About 50% of congenital heart diseases in Chinese babies are caused by ventricular septal defect.
Atrial septal defect
This mainly refers to the hole in the diaphragm of the left and right heart chambers, which is also caused by abnormal factors during embryonic development.
According to statistics, about 1 in 1500 newborns has atrial septal defect, and heart disease caused by atrial septal defect accounts for 5% to 10% of the total number of congenital heart diseases.
Patent ductus arteriosus
During embryonic development, a ductus arteriosus directs blood flow from the pulmonary artery to the aorta and on to the umbilical artery.
Generally, this ductus arteriosus closes naturally within hours to days after birth, but no more than a year at the latest.
If this ductus arteriosus does not close for a long time, and as a result pathological changes, it is called “patent ductus arteriosus”.
This condition occurs mainly in premature babies, because the tissues are immature at birth.
Tetralogy of Fallot
Tetralogy of Fallot is one of the most common cardiac developmental malformations and includes four major cardiac structural malformations: right ventricular outflow tract obstruction, right ventricular hypertrophy, aortic overriding, ventricular Septal defect, etc.
Babies with this disease usually have obvious symptoms 3 to 6 months after birth: anemia, breastfeeding, crying, emotional agitation, lips, nails, The phenomenon of bruising of the skin.
It is generally found that the baby has this condition and must be sent to a doctor immediately. In severe cases, surgery must be performed at an early stage to prevent life-threatening.
Note: If the following symptoms occur, you need to be alert to critical congenital heart disease.
1. Blue or pale skin
Babies develop bruising when crying or breastfeeding due to insufficient oxygen in the blood circulation. In severe cases, the skin may remain bruised or pale.
2. Feeding difficulties
Babies with severe congenital heart disease most often have trouble feeding, which is manifested by low milk supply, prolonged feedings, or interruptions during feedings due to falling asleep, choking, or vomiting .
3. Difficulty breathing
Baby has increased or labored breathing, coughing without an infection, wheezing, and worsening while feeding.
4. Drowsiness, sweating, easy fatigue
Fatigue easily during activities. Compared with children of the same age, they sleep more, exercise less and sweat more.
5. Stunting
Babies may experience delays in gross motor development such as raising their heads, rolling over, sitting, crawling, and walking (three months or more behind babies of the same age).
Generally speaking, the symptoms of congenital heart disease are mild and are only discovered during medical treatment or routine physical examination, and the most common congenital heart disease such as small atrial defect and ventricular septal defect are cured. The rate is very high, and parents don’t have to worry too much.
Acquired heart disease
This refers to the fact that infants and young children suffer from bacterial, viral infections or other unexplained diseases during their development, which can lead to damage to the valves of the heart, muscle layer coronary arteries, and even Irreversible and permanent dysfunction may also occur.
Kawasaki disease
Babies will experience symptoms such as pericarditis, myocarditis, endocarditis, and arrhythmia within 6 weeks of the onset of Kawasaki disease.
In most cases, when the echocardiogram is checked in 2 to 4 weeks, it will be found that the coronary artery of the heart is damaged, a few may have symptoms of myocardial infarction, and severe cases will be life-threatening.
Ischemic cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children in the late stage of coronary artery disease in Kawasaki disease.
Viral myocarditis
Viral myocarditis refers to myocardial cell degeneration and interstitial inflammation caused by viral infection in babies, and it is also accompanied by different degrees of cardiac dysfunction.
Rheumatological Heart Disease
This is usually caused by group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus infection, causing systemic connective tissue lesions, mainly affecting the heart and joints, and heart damage is the most common.
The proportion of children with heart damage caused by rheumatic fever is as high as 40%-50%. The younger the age, the higher the possibility of heart damage.
If your baby suffers from heart disease, you should pay attention to daily care to ensure adequate sleep, rest and nutrition. At the same time, you should also pay attention to prevent respiratory infections and other conditions from aggravating the disease, and observe the condition. The most important thing is to follow the doctor’s advice for effective treatment.