Heart disease in newborns. Symptoms.

The developmental defects of the cardiovascular system in newborns are caused by very complex disorders in the laying of organs during intrauterine development of the fetus and are accompanied by severe hemodynamic disorders that, depending on the type and severity of the condition, can manifest either immediately several hours after birth or after several years of life. Some congenital heart defects are incompatible with life, and require immediate surgical intervention. Otherwise, the child may die.

As a rule, to date, heart disease in newborns is determined in utero during pregnancy on ultrasound. Parents are immediately told what it is threatening, and what measures will need to be taken after the birth of such a child.

There are many different classifications of malformations of the cardiovascular system in children. Here's one of them.

All vices are divided into two large groups:

- white (with left-right shunt), with these vices there is no mixing of arterial and venous blood;

- blue (with the right-left shunt), when the arterial blood is mixed with the venous.

In turn, these groups are divided into several other groups. So to the white vices include vices, which are accompanied by an overflow of the blood of the small circle of blood circulation, i.e. Lungs (open arterial duct (OAP), atrial and interventricular septal defect (ASD, DMF), open atrio-ventricular connection, etc.).

They also include heart disease in newborns with impoverishment of a large range of blood circulation, i.e. Of the whole body, this is a fairly common defect, such as coarctation of the aorta (aortic narrowing).

Blue flaws include congenital malformations with a small circle of blood circulation, such as aortic transposition, Eisenmenger complex, as well as vices with the robbing of a small circle of circulation (tetralogy of Fallot et al.).

If heart disease in newborns is not detected during pregnancy, then it is later established according to clinical manifestations. They can be very diverse, but there are several clinical symptoms that accompany any defect.

Heart disease symptoms:

- acute or chronic heart failure, accompanied by dyspnea-cyanotic attacks, pallor, marbling or cyanotic skin, which is associated with chronic hypoxia of the child, pallor of the nasolabial triangle, the child does not keep body temperature, etc.

- Cardiac symptoms develop a little later with the growth of the child, they consist of complaints of pain in the heart, possibly the development of the heart hump (because the chest of the newborn is very malleable), various heart murmurs are heard, and the configuration of the heart and the main vessels is changed.

- respiratory failure, develops in any form of malformation. It is accompanied by a lack of air, the child suffocates, breathes heavily, the respiratory rate far exceeds the normal breathing rhythm. Sometimes, retraction of the soft sections of the chest during inhalation is observed.

- In the future, children with defects develop chronic hypoxia, which is manifested by the symptom of "drumsticks" on the phalanges of the fingers, a lag in the development of any part of the body, or the whole organism.

Absolutely always heart disease in newborns is accompanied by heart murmurs, which only an experienced cardiologist can listen to, although many rough and obvious noises will be heard by any pediatrician. When you go to a routine check-up for a pediatrician, insist that he listen to the heart at least, not to mention that you must always measure the length of the body, the circumference of the head, the frequency of breathing, the pulse and pressure. These are the necessary basic examinations of the newborn.