Congenital heart disease (congenital heart disease) is an abnormality in the structure of the heart caused by a disorder in the developmental process of the heart and large blood vessels during maternal pregnancy, especially during the first trimester, or a heart in which the channels that should close naturally after birth fail to close (which is normal in the fetus). The exact cause of its occurrence is not well understood, but most of them are due to abnormal fetal heart development caused by viral infections, drugs, radioactive radiation, genetic factors, and certain nutrient deficiencies during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Clinically, it has been observed that a few small ventricular septal defects with membranes have a chance of self-healing before the age of 3 years, while the vast majority require surgical treatment. The main clinical manifestations are: cardiac insufficiency, cyanosis, developmental delay, and decreased resistance as the main manifestations. So, how can parents find out that their children are suffering from precordial heart disease? How to treat and care for them? I will give you a brief introduction.
First, early detection
With the rapid development of science and technology, medicine, especially heart disease, has made great progress, and many previously untreatable or poorly treated precocious diseases have new treatment concepts and methods, and many precocious diseases can be treated with early surgery with significantly improved results. Therefore, early detection of suspicious symptoms so that timely examination can be performed, early and clear diagnosis can be made, treatment plans can be decided, and necessary measures can be taken to achieve good treatment results. So, how can precocious heart disease be detected? Early pregnancy checkups with fetal heart ultrasound can detect some of the precocious heart diseases, but of course, this technology is demanding and can only be carried out by some specialized maternal and child health centers and heart centers.
After the child is born, it should be carefully observed and attention should be drawn to the following symptoms if the child has the following and seek early medical attention.
1.The baby’s lips and face are blue;
2.Crying is low and hoarse;
3.Shortness of breath, nasal agitation, and weakness in breastfeeding;
4.Low milk intake, insignificant weight gain or weight loss;
5.Crying, sweating, purple around the lips after activity or crying;
6.Recurring colds, bronchitis and pneumonia, and time-consuming treatment and slow recovery.
Second, early treatment
In recent years, domestic diagnostic methods and surgical procedures for congenital heart disease have developed rapidly, and the success rate of most pediatric congenital heart disease through surgical correction has reached more than 95%. However, due to the unbalanced development in different places, especially the progress of medical level in rural and marginal areas still lags behind, and the updated concept of treatment lags behind, plus some children delay seeking medical treatment because of parents’ busy and negligent, which leads to the aggravation of the disease, cardiac insufficiency and severe pulmonary hypertension, increasing the risk of surgery and even losing the opportunity of surgery. Here, we would like to remind parents to
1. Take the child to the hospital for examination as early as possible to clarify the nature and degree of heart malformation, and decide the appropriate age for surgery as early as possible, and abandon the idea that “the child is too young to withstand surgery” to avoid delaying the condition.
2.For those children with clinically asymptomatic precordial disease, surgery may not be required for the time being, but they should not be taken lightly. Regular checkups, including electrocardiogram, chest X-ray and echocardiogram, should be conducted to understand the cardiopulmonary load and decide the timing of surgery in time.
3. For children who do not need surgery for the time being and are in the waiting period for surgery, they should pay attention to keeping warm, preventing colds, maintaining good hygiene habits and keeping oral hygiene. Tooth decay and tonsillitis should be treated actively. If fever does not subside, go to the hospital promptly and avoid strenuous activities to prevent aggravating the heart and lung burden.
4, vaccination should be appropriate for each person, if the child has a strong immunity, rarely colds, pneumonia, can consider vaccination. If the immunity is poor and prone to sense and pneumonia, or if upper sense and pneumonia appear after vaccination, it is not advisable to vaccinate again.
Third, actively guide your child and take care of him/her carefully
In addition to the active treatment by doctors, careful care by parents is equally important, and the following points should be noted in home care.
1, actively guide the child, avoid spoiling, capricious, develop good habits, ensure sufficient sleep, prohibit running and jumping and strenuous exercise to avoid aggravating the burden on the child’s heart. Try to keep quiet and avoid violent crying and excessive mood swings in the child.
2. For those children with cardiac insufficiency, it is necessary to keep the skin clean due to more sweating, especially in summer, to bathe and change clothes and pants regularly. Feed more water to ensure sufficient hydration and avoid dehydration.
3. The child should eat less and more meals, the diet should be as diverse and easy to digest as possible, and the intake of sufficient protein and vitamins should be ensured. Infants with severe congenital heart disease have incomplete heart function, weakness in sucking milk, feeding is more difficult, shortness of breath, weakness and sweating will occur when eating milk, which affects feeding, consider applying drip drops so as to reduce the physical exertion of the child.
4. Keep the child’s bowels open. When the child has dry stools and difficulty in defecation, it will increase the burden on the heart and cause cardiac insufficiency, which can be life-threatening in serious cases. If the child has no stool for 2-3 days, you can use open plug laxative to laxative.
5. Keep indoor air circulation and try to avoid staying in crowded and crowded public places to reduce the chance of respiratory infection. Children with congenital heart disease are weak, so they should increase or decrease their clothes according to the cold and warm weather to prevent colds. Once the child has an infection, the infection should be actively controlled.
6, regular follow-up at the hospital, strictly follow the doctor’s orders to take medication, especially cardiac, diuretic, potassium drugs, due to its pharmacological properties, must strictly comply with the dose to ensure the efficacy.
7, children with surgically treated precardiac disease, because of the early postoperative resistance is poor, especially in the first 3 months after surgery to strengthen care. Pay attention to diet and nutrition, the intake and output should be balanced; pay attention to keep warm and avoid getting cold. For older children, comfort and encouragement should be given to prevent them from carrying the burden of thought; ensure sufficient sleep and good rest to smoothly pass the postoperative recovery period.