Defect of interventricular septum

Defect of the interventricular septum is a big problem in medicine.

The heart is the small organ that runs the entire body. Well, if a person is born completely healthy. Sometimes there are forms of pathology of the heart, developing in the prenatal period.

This includes the defect of the interventricular septum. In such cases, the ventricles of the heart communicate with each other. In this case, congenital heart disease in children requires as soon as possible actions to prevent the development of complications.

The defect can have various sizes - from small to large and localized in different parts of the septum: muscular, membranous or trabecular.

Immediately after the birth of a profuse pathological discharge of blood through the through defect of the interventricular septum is not noted. This is due to the fact that initially the child and without it there is an increase in blood pressure in the vessels located in a small circle of blood circulation. Later, systolic murmur begins to be heard.

If you count all the congenital malformations that affect the heart and blood vessels, then the defect of the septum between the ventricles will account for about 30% of all pathologies.

The causes of defect formation of the interventricular septum

In a properly formed organism, by the end of the fifth week, all the components of the partitions of the heart must be joined together. If this does not occur, a defect of the interventricular septum is formed.

Risk factors include abusing mother during pregnancy with alcohol, smoking. The effect of infectious agents (viruses, certain bacteria) that can penetrate the placental barrier is very bad for the child's condition.

Clinical manifestations of developmental malformations

The defect of the interventricular septum appears already in the first days, and even the hours of the child's life:

• Cyanosis of the skin and mucous membranes - the result of the discharge of oxygen-enriched blood from the left ventricular cavity to the right;
• Edema of the trunk and especially the limbs of the child;
• No increase in weight;
• Tachycardia and heart palpitations.

Diagnostic measures for defect detection

Suspicion from a doctor can cause the appearance of the child. After auscultation, quite often specialists with a reasonable probability assume that the patient has a defect in the septum. To confirm the diagnosis, the following methods are used:

• Ultrasound examination of the heart. The method is simple and fairly cheap for all its accuracy.
• X-ray examination of organs located in the chest - you can detect the expansion of the heart's boundaries.
• Determination of saturation of peripheral blood with oxygen.
• Catheterization of the cavities of the heart. This complex manipulation is carried out under the control of the radiographic apparatus. After the introduction of the catheter into the cavity of the ventricles, it becomes possible to monitor many parameters.
• MRI of the heart and large vessels.

Defect of interventricular septum - radical and palliative treatment

Treatment can be conservative and surgical.

• The open operation consists in opening the thorax and directly restoring the integrity of the septum. In this case, the apparatus of artificial circulation is used.
• It is possible to carry out endovascular intervention. Under the X-ray control, a probe is inserted into the vascular bed and gradually advances to the site of the defect. Then the septum is restored with a special patch. Undoubted advantage of this operation is its minimally invasive.
• Palliative surgery consists in the artificial stenosis of the pulmonary artery in order to limit the discharge. It does not eliminate the cause, only alleviating the symptoms of pathology.

After the operation is performed, preparations for preventing blood clotting and normalizing the heart rhythm of the patient are indicated. This makes it possible to partially reduce the number of postoperative complications.