Classification of heart defects: congenital and acquired diseases

By "heart disease" is meant multiple heart diseases, which were combined for a number of specific parameters.

This pathological problem occupies a large part of such a science as cardiology, and is of great interest to specialists around the world.

Consider the basic classification of congenital heart disease in children and adults acquired: what they are and how they differ.

General concepts

Heart damage includes congenital or acquired in the course of life of abnormalities in the following structures:

• In the valvular heart apparatus;
• In the walls and partitions of the heart muscle;
• In large vessels that follow from the heart.

Species

To date, specialists are divided into two main classifications of this pathology, which differs in the etiologic factor:

• Congenital , that is, those disorders that occurred during intrauterine development of the fetus and appeared under the destructive effect of exogenous causes( among them - viruses, toxic effects of drugs, chemicals, radiation).

  Endogenous factors may also be the cause of congenital malformation, among which - all sorts of pathologies on the part of parents.

  Here there are hormonal failures in the body of a woman in the period of gestation, the presence of problems with the cardiovascular system in someone from the family.

• Purchased .Such a variety of vices can appear in any age group after birth. The cause of this can be any injury to the heart muscle, viral diseases. So acquired vice can arise in patients with rheumatism, syphilis, as well as those who suffer from coronary artery disease, atherosclerotic phenomena.

There is also a classification of defects where is given attention to the location of the defect :

• In the mitral valve, pathological changes in the structure of the bivalve valve, which is localized by the left ventricle and atrium.
• In the aortic valve, a pathology in the area of ​​the valve, which is located on the threshold of the largest artery - the aorta.
• In the tricuspid valve - a violation in the valve, through which the blood flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle is regulated.
• In the pulmonary valve - changes in the valve that is located at the beginning of the pulmonary artery.
• In the oval aperture - congenital non-admission of the arterial duct. It is more common in females, but there are cases when by the year the duct itself overgrows, thereby the void itself disappears.

Another classification of defects relates to the changes in the anatomical structure of the heart structure of and is presented:

• Stenosis - when there is constriction either in blood vessels or in valves. This condition slows the normal flow of blood.
• Coarctation - pathology is akin to stenosis.
• Atresia - narrowing the cavity, the opening of the vessel, or its complete absence. This state leads all to the same difficulty of flow on the part of the blood.
• Defects of cardiac structures( interatrial, interventricular) - this includes a poorly developed valve, underdeveloped walls of the heart, blood vessels.
• Hypoplasia is the weakness of one part of the heart muscle( right or left), in which the healthy half takes on a double load.

In connection with the previous types of defects, there are also 2 other types of existing defects:

• Associated with obstruction of - when stenotic phenomena occur in valves, blood vessels, or changes, with signs of atresia.
• Defects in the area of ​​the heart part, that is, those areas that separate the right and left parts of the heart muscle.

The blood flow rate of also undergoes changes in heart diseases, therefore, the classification of degrees of pathology based on hemodynamic data was structured by scientists:

• The 1st degree of - defects with a slight change in blood velocity;
• 2nd degree - when there are place to be moderate changes in speed;
• 3rd degree - there are noticeable difficulties in the movement of blood;
• 4-th degree - to it carry terminal damages, that is those on which it is already impossible to influence.

With hemodynamics, another division of defects is associated with varieties:

1. The so-called "white" defects of the heart, when there is no mixing between the arterial and venous blood, when there are signs of a discharge of blood from left to right.

   In turn, such changes are divided into:
   

   • Saturation of the small circle of the circulation( in other words - pulmonary).For example, when the oval opening is open, when there is a change in the interventricular septum.
   • Small circle round. This form is present for pulmonary stenosis of an isolated nature.
   • Saturation of a large circle of blood circulation. This form takes place for aortic stenosis of isolated sense.
   • A condition where there are no noticeable signs of hemodynamic disturbances.
2. "Blue" defects of of the heart occur when venous blood is thrown into the arterial blood, often are congenital in children and also have several subspecies:
   • Those that contribute to the enrichment of the small circle of circulation( with the Eisenmenger complex);
   • Those that circumscribe the pulmonary lobe( with the Ebstein anomaly).

There is a classification of combined heart defects:

• Tetrad Phallo. It includes the phenomenon of stenosis from the pulmonary artery, changes in the interventricular septum, as well as a change in the localization of the aorta. After a while there is hypertrophy of the ventricle on the right.
• Triad of Fallot. It is characterized by the presence of stenosis from the side of the pulmonary trunk, ventricular hypertrophy on the right, and pathology in the septum that divides the ventricles.
• Pentada Phallo .A defect in the septum, which divides the atria, joins the tethered Fallot.
• Anomaly of Ebstein .Refers to congenital pathologies, when there is tricuspidal heart disease-insufficiency from the tricuspid valve. As a result, the volume of the ventricle decreases to the right, the oval opening does not overgrow.

Symptomatology of diseases

Depending on the form of the defect, the pathology has the following characteristic features:

• In case of defects of the interventricular septum , dyspnea will be observed, as well as rapid fatigue when performing various physical activities. Visually and palpatory: the cervical veins are swollen, the liver is enlarged and pulsates.
• When the arterial duct is open, most patients do not complain( if the duct is small in size).In other cases, complaints relate to shortness of breath, frequent swelling, palpitations, and inability to exercise.
• With coarctation of the aorta , the symptoms are atypical: headaches, nosebleeds, sensation of weakness in the legs, and their cold snap. More serious complaints are associated with angina and heart failure.
• In the tetralogy of Fallot the doctor discovers a symptom of "drumsticks" on the upper and lower extremities, in the blood - of erythrocytosis.

Among the most common symptoms of this disease can be identified:

• Complaints of dyspnea;
• Cyanosis of various skin areas;
• Frequent edematous phenomena;
• Heart palpitations;
• Discomfort or pain in the heart;
• Cough;
• Noises in the cardiac region.

Diagnostic measures

In order to establish this cardiac pathology , specialists use various studies according to the indications:

• ECHOKG( for detection of a defect in interatrial and interventricular septum, open arterial duct, coarctation of the aorta, tetralogy of Fallot);
• Cardiac catheterization( it is possible to detect changes in the interventricular septum, coarctation of the aorta);
• MRI of the pulmonary artery;
• PE ECHO;
• Radiographic examination of chest organs together with contrast illumination;
• ultrasound.

Treatment

To eliminate this pathology, both medical treatment and the use of surgical methods are used.

Medical therapy is aimed at eliminating inflammatory phenomena in the heart, eliminating symptoms, after which there is a surgical operation. For the most part, it is used in the open heart and is more successful if the radical method of eliminating the defect is used in the early stages of the disease.

Also, cardiologists are assigned prophylactic measures , which are aimed at preventing the occurrence of rheumatism of the heart and subsequent vices.

Forecasts

To determine how the disease will develop and what fruits will give the drug and radical therapy by the time the patient found pathological symptoms, when he turned to a specialist, what diagnosis was diagnosed, and what treatment method was chosen.

If there was a early treatment of the patient , and then adequate appropriate treatment was prescribed, then the outcome of the disease is favorable.

It should be remembered that any kind of heart disease is an extremely life-threatening phenomenon , which requires urgent intervention by specialists.