Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease is one of the types of heart disease. Congenital heart disease can be developed in a patient since birth that is why it is termed as congenital disease. It can be seen in children and adults. The improper formation of valves and heart muscle give rise to this type of heart disease. The other complications included in this type of disease is the holes in the heart and narrowing of the section of aorta. In most of the cases this disease is detected at the time of the birth while in other cases it comes to know in the later life. According to a research it is found that 1% of the infants are born with some heart problems. Doctors have found many conditions under which the baby is born with a congenital heart disease. Some of the conditions are consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, Congenital heart disease in the baby's mother or father, consumption of cocaine during pregnancy, diabetes in mother, etc. Sometimes the babies are born with heart defects without these conditions. One of the main reasons of heart problems is the improper diet and lack of exercise. In most of the cases the disease is detected in by the doctor at the time of the birth.

Children suffering from congenital heart disease must be given special care must continue with the medications prescribed by the doctor. Taking antibiotics is good which will protect the children from infective endocarditis. In many cases doctor suggest surgery to avoid further complications. There are many types of congenital heart diseases like Persistent truncus arteriosus, Patent ductus arteriosus, Ebstein's anomaly, Ventricular septal defect (VSD), Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, Tetralogy of Fallot, Atrial septal defect (ASD), Pulmonary atresia, Pulmonary Stenosis, Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, Atrioventricular canal defect, Tricuspid atresia, Aortic Stenosis, Transposition of the great arteries and Coarctation of the aorta. According to a research it is found that eight in every thousand babies are born with heart problems. If the heart problem remains undetected in the early life it can give rise to many risk in future. These days doctors can even detect the heart problem in child before the baby is born. Here are some of the examples of congenital heart disease like abnormal connections between the vessels and chambers of the heart, narrowing of the artery of the body, failure caused by a blood channel, blockages in the pathways between the lung and heart, openings in the internal wall of the heart, narrowing of the heart valves, etc.

In congenital heart disease the blood is obstructed in the vessels of the heart problem sometime leading to heart attack. When the flow of blood is obstructed it puts strain on the patients heart. Sometimes the abnormal blood flow also happens when there is a hole in heart walls. An early diagnose is to be done if the baby is showing the symptoms of congenital heart disease. Diet should be improved to reduce the risk and complications.

Heart murmurs in adults

What are heart murmurs in adults?

We all read or heard talking about heart murmurs in adults, and many of us are curious to find out if  they have this dysfunction. A few know the true meaning of this condition, that’s why when our physician tells us we have  heart murmurs either we think we suffer from a devastating disease, either we ignore it, but none of this reaction is normal.  Next we will clarify the meaning and the cause for heart murmurs, in order to prepare people that might be diagnosed with this disorder to understand and deal their condition properly.
Heart murmurs in adults refer to the abnormal sounds heard by doctors when they listen to the heartbeats with a stethoscope. In medical practice, hearing  heart murmurs in adults raises the suspicion of heart valve pathology, but sometimes these abnormal heart sounds can occur in other conditions like a defect in the heart wall, anemia, fever etc. When there is no heart modification that can explain the murmurs, they are called functional. Because this condition can occur in other pathologies beside hear disorder, everytime we suspect a heart murmurs in adults we should check its presence with an echocardiography examination.
Heart murmurs affect both children and adults and are recognized as the “noise” heard between the two normal heart sounds. If the murmur occurs after the first heart sound is called systolic, which means it occurs during heart contraction, and if it occurs after the second heart sound is called diastolic and this means it occurs while heart is in its relaxation period. The classification into systolic and diastolic is important because it indicates whether we are facing a valve stenosis (narrowing of the heart valve) or insufficiency (the valves fail to close properly, letting blood to flow back into the heart chambers). There are other classifications for heart murmurs in adults, but those medical terms are more important for the specialists.

 Why do heart murmurs in adults occur and how we deal with them?

 As we explained above, in most of the cases heart murmurs in adults occur when there is a heart pathology:

• heart valve narrowing or closure impairment, in this case the blood flow becomes turbulent and makes a noise that we call it murmur,
• a defect in heart wall-a congenital defect that occurs in children, allowing blood to flow from one side of the heart to the other, determining blood with oxygen and blood with carbone dioxide to mix. Sometimes this condition can remain undiagnosed until late adulthood, because it is a small defect and doesn’t cause symptoms, but in many cases is diagnosed soon after birth, being recognized as a prolonged murmur (noise) heard during heart auscultation and needs surgical correction. Another type of heart murmur heard in children is the one determined by the ductus arteriosus persistence (a connection between aorta and pulmonary artery in the uterine life).
• other condition like anemia or fever can determine heart murmurs in adults, because they determine turbulent blood flow, but this murmur disappears once the condition is treated.

How do we  with deal heart murmurs in adults ? In patients suffering from valve pathology periodically monitoring is important because in time they can lead to heart failure, in order to prevent this, surgical replacement of the valves can be performed. Heart wall defect can also be repaired providing a normal life for these patients, while the causes for functional heart murmurs in adults once treated determine these abnormal heart sounds to disappear.

Heart murmurs in adults are a serious medical condition,  if you think you have it call your doctor.