The diagnosis of "heart disease" in most people involuntarily causes an association with newborns. This happens for the reason that on hearing in the average person cases with congenital defects, namely, anomalies in the structure of the heart, appeared during the embryonic development of the fetus.
But to date, and such heart defects that are acquired by a person in the course of life are also common. It is about such acquired vices, the cause of their origin and the methods of treatment that will be discussed in this article.
Acquired heart defects are certain inconsistencies in the norms or simply anomalies observed in the functioning or structure of the heart valves that appear in the patient during life.
Classification of acquired heart defects is carried out in terms of severity and localization. The first criterion determines the degree of hemodynamic disturbance (high or moderate). The second criterion determines aortic, tricuspid, mitral or acquired multivalve heart defects.
Causes and symptoms of the disease
The causes of congenital and acquired heart defects are significantly different, which is due to the difference in the structure of the body and the environment. One of the frequent causes of the acquired heart disease is infectious diseases.
Some types of infection, penetrating into the human body, can have a detrimental effect on the structure and functioning of the internal organs of man, in particular, on the work of the heart valves. In such cases, infectious disease leads to inflammation and, as a consequence, to heart disease.
Another major cause of acquired heart defects is overload of the heart chambers. Excessively intensified work of the heart muscle inevitably leads to its destruction and can cause irreversible consequences.
With regard to congenital malformations, they, in most cases, are diagnosed in a timely manner, which enables them to provide medical assistance on time to the newborn. Unfortunately, this does not always apply to acquired vices. The reason for this is most often that even in the presence of pain and palpable ill-health, patients do not seek medical help or are treated at later stages of the disease, preferring to suffer illnesses on their feet.
Explicit signs of the disease
To avoid such situations, let us consider the signs of acquired heart disease, in the presence of which you should immediately seek help from a cardiologist.
One of the signs is shortness of breath . But in itself, shortness of breath does not indicate the presence of blemish. Other signs of acquired heart disease should also be present.
We are talking about such signs:
- heartache;
- cyanosis of the skin;
- heart palpitations and others.
Also an important sign that very often accompanies this disease is a heart murmur diagnosed by a doctor.
Treatment of acquired heart defects
Treatment of acquired heart defects includes two main stages:
- drug treatment;
- surgical intervention.
For effective treatment, it is necessary to go through both stages, since medication without surgery is able to eliminate only the consequences of a defect, such as arrhythmia , etc.
Timely surgical intervention can eliminate the disease entirely. As a rule, medical intervention is directed mainly to the removal of inflammation in the heart. Surgical treatment of acquired heart defects eliminates anomalies in the structure and, at the same time, the disease itself.