I. How congenital heart disease occurs
Congenital heart disease is a disease caused by malformations in the development of the heart vessels during embryonic life. However, the causes of most congenital heart disease patients are still not very clear, but it is certain that the occurrence of congenital heart disease is related to genetic and environmental factors.
1, the influence of genetic factors: according to medical reports, about 5% of congenital heart disease patients with chromosomal abnormalities; in addition, there can be two or more members of the same family suffering from congenital heart disease, indicating that the occurrence of congenital heart disease is related to genetic factors.
2, the role of environmental factors: mainly the mother in early pregnancy (especially within 3 months) suffered from viral infections, such as rubella, mumps, influenza, etc., so it is extremely necessary to strengthen the health care of women during pregnancy.
Second, what are the common symptoms of congenital heart disease
Congenital heart disease has the following common symptoms, but mild congenital heart disease can have no obvious symptoms. They include cyanosis, heart murmur, poor physical strength, feeding difficulties, susceptibility to respiratory infections and poor development. If parents find their children have the above symptoms, they should go to the hospital early to confirm whether they have congenital heart disease.
Three, the classification of congenital heart disease
Congenital heart disease (referred to as congenital heart disease) can be divided into two categories: cyanotic congenital heart disease and non-cyanotic congenital heart disease. The congenital heart disease of cyanotic type includes ventricular or atrial septal defect, arteriovenous ductus arteriosus, etc. There is usually no clinical cyanosis. Non-cyanotic precocious heart disease includes tetralogy of Fallot and transposition of the great arteries, etc., which usually have cyanosis.
What to do if your child has congenital heart disease
Most congenital heart diseases can be diagnosed through auscultation and cardiac ultrasound, and the success rate of correction and treatment has reached more than 95%. However, we have encountered some children with congenital heart disease due to parental negligence and delay in seeking medical treatment, so that the disease has reached an advanced stage, or lost the opportunity to operate, or complicate the cardiopulmonary insufficiency, increasing the risk of surgery. For this reason, we remind parents to.
(1) Take your child to the hospital for examination as early as possible to clarify the nature and degree of heart malformation and to decide the appropriate age for surgery so as not to delay the condition.
(2) For children with heart murmurs but no symptoms, regular physical examinations should be performed.
(3) For children who need to wait for surgery due to age or other factors, attention should be paid to preventing colds, developing brushing habits and maintaining oral hygiene.
V. The best time for congenital heart disease treatment
The best time for surgery for congenital heart disease is one of the easiest and most difficult questions to answer. Generally speaking, from the perspective of the child’s ability to adapt to surgery, cooperate with postoperative treatment, and not affect learning, the best time is from 2 to 6 years old, but it must be decided with the specific disease and patient’s specific situation. Some congenital heart diseases must be operated early, otherwise good surgical opportunities are lost, such as large ventricular septal defect, arteriovenous ductus arteriosus, so the operation should be completed early, generally within l years of age, or even less than half a year; otherwise, on the one hand, it will cost a lot of money due to repeated pneumonia heart failure, and on the other hand, the opportunity to operate is lost due to the complication of severe pulmonary hypertension. In contrast, transposition of the great arteries often requires surgery in the newborn.
However, in small and medium septal defects up to 2 years of age, the decision to operate can wait until after a review at 2 years of age. The optimal age for surgery in tetralogy of Fallot is 1-3 years, but there is no age limit if an anoxic episode occurs. If the cyanosis is particularly severe and the condition of pulmonary artery is very poor, aortopulmonary artery diversion surgery can be considered first to provide more adequate pulmonary blood flow and promote pulmonary vascular development, and then the radical surgery can be completed within 1-2 years.
What are the surgical corrective procedures for congenital heart disease?
In terms of general classification, congenital heart disease surgery is divided into closed surgery and direct heart surgery under extracorporeal circulation. Closed surgery is used for arteriovenous ductus arteriosus ligation and so on. In a lateral thoracotomy, the patient’s heart and lungs still perform their respective functions. Direct cardiac surgery under extracorporeal circulation, also known as open heart surgery, is the most commonly used method in which a median thoracic incision is made, the sternum is split, and the heart and lungs are restored by using an extracorporeal circulation machine instead of heart and lung function during the operation to stop the heart and resume it after repair. Such as ventricular septal defect repair, etc.
VII. What is the effect after congenital heart disease surgery
The vast majority of congenital heart disease can be cured and completely reach the normal life level, and some congenital heart disease can be close to the normal life level after surgery.