Health Advices Blog

Archive for the ‘Cardiovascular Diseases’ Category

Your child may need other equipment not mentioned here to provide support while in the ICU, or afterwards. Hospital staff will provide an explanation of all the teams necesarios.Se kept as comfortable as possible to your child with several different medications, some which relieve pain and some which relieve anxiety. Staff also asked their views on how best to soothe and comfort your child.

Once discharged from the ICU, your child will recuperate on another hospital unit for a few days before returning home. You will learn how to care for at home before you are discharged. Your child should take medication for a while, you will also receive information. The staff will give you instructions regarding medications, activity limitations and follow-up appointments before they are discharged the kid. Read the rest of this entry »

Some very sick babies requiring care in the intensive care unit (ICU) before the procedure and could possibly even need emergency repair of the coarctation. Others, who are exhibiting few symptoms, will schedule the repair with less urgency. After surgery, infants will return to the intensive care unit (ICU) to be closely monitored during recovery.

While the child is in the ICU, special equipment will be used to help recover from the surgery, including:

- Ventilator – a machine that helps your child breathe while under anesthesia during the operation. It leads a small plastic tube into the trachea and attached to the ventilator, which breathes for your child while he is too sleepy to breathe effectively. Many children remain on the ventilator for a while after surgery so they can rest. Read the rest of this entry »

Treatment for coarctation of the aorta:

Specific treatment for coarctation of the aorta will be determined by the physician based on:

- Your child’s age, overall health and medical history.
- Extent of the disease.
- Your child’s tolerance for specific medications, procedures or therapies.
- Expectations for the evolution of the defect.
- Your opinion or preference.

Coarctation of the aorta is treated with repair of the narrowed vessel. Currently available options. Read the rest of this entry »

Your child’s physician may have heard a heart murmur during a physical exam and send the child to a pediatric cardiologist for a diagnosis. A heart murmur is simply a noise caused by turbulence of blood flowing through the obstruction from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery. Symptoms your child exhibits will also help the diagnosis.

A pediatric cardiologist specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, as well as heart problems that may develop later in childhood. The cardiologist will perform a physical examination, listening to the heart and lungs of your child and make other observations that help in diagnosis.

The location within the chest where the murmur is heard best, as well as the volume and quality (harsh, blowing, etc..) Will give the cardiologist an initial idea of which heart problem your child might have. However, to achieve a diagnosis, other tests are needed which may include the following: Read the rest of this entry »

What are the symptoms of coarctation of the aorta?

Symptoms appear when the baby is small are produced by a moderate or severe narrowing of the aorta. Below are listed the most common symptoms of coarctation of the aorta. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:

- Irritability.
- Paleness of the skin. Read the rest of this entry »

What causes coarctation of the aorta?

Some congenital heart defects may have a genetic link, either occurring due to a defect in a gene (a chromosomal abnormality) or environmental exposure, causing heart problems to occur more often in certain families. In most cases, this heart defect occurs sporadically (by chance), with no clear reason for their development.

Why is coarctation a concern?

Coarctation of the aorta causes several problems, including:

- The left ventricle must work harder to move blood through the narrowing of the aorta. Over time, the left ventricle can no longer handle the extra workload and stops pumping blood around the body effectively. Read the rest of this entry »

What is coarctation of the aorta?

Coarctation of the aorta is a congenital (present at birth) heart involves narrowing (stenosis) of the aorta. The aorta is the large artery that carries oxygen-rich blood (red) from the left ventricle to the body. It is shaped like a candy cane, the first section moving up towards the head (ascending aorta), then curving in a “C” as the smaller arteries connected to it carry blood to the head and arms (bow or aortic arch). After the curve, the aorta becomes straight and down into the abdomen, carrying blood to the lower body (descending aorta).

The narrowed segment called coarctation can occur anywhere in the aorta, but it is most likely to occur in the segment just after the aortic arch. This narrowing restricts the amount of oxygen-rich blood (red) can move the lower body. The degree of narrowing can occur. Read the rest of this entry »