Noises in the heart of a child - reasons

Functional noise in the heart of an infant is considered a kind of feature of the manifestation of cardiac activity in practically healthy children, but it can also be observed when the myocardium (cardiac muscle) is broken, hemodynamics change. Also, one of the many reasons for the appearance of such noises in the heart of a child may be, for example, anemia. Such kind of noise is often called "innocent", because their presence practically does not affect the health and general condition of the baby. Let's try to figure out what the child's "noise in the heart" means, whether all the noises are dangerous and why they appear.

What are the causes of the development of systolic murmur in the child's heart?

Given the anatomical features of the heart structure in children, it is customary to distinguish the following types of causes for the appearance of such a disorder:

• Valvular - prolapses of the valves of the heart valves, asymmetry of the semilunar valves, additional semilunar valves, trigonoidization of the valves of the semilunar valves;
• chordal - characterized by the appearance (false) chords of the ventricles of the heart, the change in their position, the violation of their transformation;
• papillary - changes in position, shape, number of papillary muscles, disturbance of their tone with contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle;
• barrier-parietal - open oval window (LLC), aneurysm of the interatrial septum, Eustachian valve, S-shaped deformation of the upper segment of the interventricular septum, etc.

All listed disorders in medicine are called small anomalies of heart development (MARS). They are often combined with congenital heart defects and with each other, which must be taken into account when assessing the condition of the child and determining the tactics of his conduct. It is these disorders that lead to the appearance of systolic murmur in the heart of a small child.

Mitral valve prolapse as a common cause of systolic noises

Having dealt with why the child has noises in the heart, and what they mean, consider the most frequent cause of their appearance, which is the prolapse of the mitral valve.

Among the above-mentioned valvular causes, the most common of these is mitral valve prolapse (PMC). This disorder is manifested as a swelling of 1 or both valves of this valve, in the direction of the heart chamber located closer to the center. According to medstatistics, this disorder occurs in approximately 6-18% of children of all ages, including newborns. At the same time, girls suffer from this disease 2-3 times more often.

As a rule, the development of primary PMP is due to the inferiority of the connective tissue structures of the valve itself, the presence of small anomalies in the valvular apparatus.

The secondary form of the disease develops due to the development of hereditary diseases of connective tissue. In this case, there is accumulation of so-called acid mucopolysaccharides directly in the stroma of the valve itself. With such diseases of the cardiovascular system, as rheumatism, infective endocarditis, non-rheumatic carditis, prolapse can arise as a complication.

Open oval window (OOO)

This kind of disorder is also the cause of systolic murmur in the heart of the baby. Characterized by the presence of a small short channel between the right and left atrium, which is covered by a valve located in the left atrium. With such a violation, the discharge of blood occurs exclusively in one direction - from right to left.

The fusion of this channel is due to the valve and the secondary partition. As a result, a hole is formed on the place of the window. Under normal conditions, the oval window usually closes in the period from 2 to 12 months after birth. However, this favorable variant of postnatal development of the cardiovascular system does not occur in all people. According to different authors, the oval window remains open in 20-40% (on average - in 25-30%) of persons of mature age.