Before a baby is born, the right and left ventricles of its heart are not separate. As the fetus grows, a wall forms to separate these two ventricles. If the wall does not completely form, a hole remains. This hole is known as a ventricular septal defect, or a VSD.
Ventricular septal defect is one of the most common congenital heart defects. The baby may have no symptoms, and the hole can eventually close as the wall continues to grow after birth. If the hole is large, too much blood will be pumped to the lungs, leading to heart failure. The cause of VSD is not yet known. This defect often occurs along with other congenital heart defects.
Symptoms-Patients with ventricular septal defects may not have symptoms. However, if the hole is large, the baby often has symptoms related to heart failure.
Most common symptoms- Shortness of breath, Fast breathing, Hard breathing, Paleness, Failure to gain weight, Fast heart rate, Sweating while feeding, Frequent respiratory infections
Treatment-If the defect is small, no treatment is usually needed. However, the baby should be closely monitored by a health care provider to make sure that the hole eventually closes properly and signs of heart failure do not occur. Babies with a large VSD who have symptoms related to heart failure may need medicine to control the symptoms and surgery to close. Lilly takes a diuretics twice a day.
If symptoms continue even with medication, open heart surgery to close the defect with a Gore-tex patch is needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment