Heart Disease With Venoarterial Shunt

Heart disease with venoarterial shunt is a congenital defect in which there are abnormal communication pathways between the right and left parts of the heart or between the central parts of the arterial and venous systems. Because of these abnormal messages, some of the blood from the venous system flows directly into the arterial system, bypassing the lungs, where oxygenation of the blood should occur.

Thus, with this defect, venous (non-oxygenated) and arterial (oxygenated) blood are mixed. This leads to a decrease in arterial blood oxygen saturation (hypoxemia) and the development of cyanosis.

There are several types of venoarterial discharges - patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, anomalous drainage of the pulmonary veins. Diagnosis is based on data from auscultation, ECG, echocardiography, and cardiac catheterization. Treatment in most cases is surgical.

Heart disease. **Heart disease** is the general name for any congenital or acquired anomaly of the structure of the heart (septal defects, anomalies of outgoing vessels, valve apparatus), leading to impaired blood flow. In addition, the defect may be a manifestation of another cardiac or extracardiac (in which organic heart failure often develops) disease. The defect is a substrate for chronic heart failure and thromboembolic complications. The disease is complicated by dystrophic processes in the myocardium, heart failure - up to chronic cardiac aneurysm. Treatment of heart disease. The diagnosis of the defect is carried out by the following specialists - pediatrician, surgeon, pediatric cardiologist, adult cardiologist. Parents should pay close attention to the child’s complaints - asymmetrical pulse in the radial arteries of the arms, neck veins; a state of discomfort, discomfort or shortness of breath during exercise or at rest; pallor or cyanosis of the skin, sometimes - attacks of blue-red coloring of the skin; inadequate response to physical activity: fainting, fatigue or weakness, malnutrition; rapid pulse with a tendency to extrasystoles; general weakness, increased fatigue, poor appetite, lethargy; changes in blood counts, increased hematocrit or hemoglobin, decreased number of red blood cells or neutrophils. The lack of positive dynamics during drug treatment is a reason for hospitalization. Diagnosis is carried out by a cardiologist-arrhythmologist; pediatrician; pediatric surgeon After diagnosis, appropriate treatment is selected, determined by the patient in the cardiovascular surgery department. Conservative therapy is mandatory at all stages of patient management and is carried out under the supervision of a cardiologist. Drugs are prescribed that slow down the rhythm and normalize the pressure in the common trunk of the large pulmonary veins. The same medications are used to stabilize the patient’s condition before radical surgery.

The goal of treating heart defects is to reduce