What are the symptoms of congenital heart disease?

As our quality of life improves, we have found that many children have congenital heart disease. This is mainly because our parents did not check their own conditions when they gave birth. Therefore, we suggest that everyone should have a certain understanding of the causes and symptoms of congenital heart disease. Now let’s take a look at its symptoms.

Congenital cardiovascular disease is the most common type of congenital malformation. Mild cases have no symptoms and are discovered during physical examination. Severe cases may have difficulty breathing after activity, cyanosis, syncope, etc. Older children may have growth retardation. The presence or absence of symptoms and manifestations are also related to the type of disease and the presence or absence of complications. Neonatal heart failure is considered an emergency and is usually caused by a more severe heart defect. Its clinical manifestations are due to congestion of the pulmonary circulation and systemic circulation and reduced cardiac output.

Symptoms and signs

Mild cases have no symptoms and are discovered during physical examination. Severe cases may have difficulty breathing after activity, cyanosis, syncope, etc. Older children may have growth retardation. The presence or absence of symptoms and manifestations are also related to the type of disease and the presence or absence of complications.

1. Heart failure: Neonatal heart failure is considered an emergency, and most of the time it is caused by severe heart defects in the child. Its clinical manifestations are due to congestion of the pulmonary circulation and systemic circulation and reduced cardiac output. The children are pale, short of breath, have difficulty breathing and tachycardia. The heart rate can reach 160-190 beats per minute and the blood pressure is often low. You can hear the rhythm of galloping horses. The liver is enlarged, but peripheral edema is less common.

2. Cyanosis: It is caused by the mixing of arterial and venous blood due to right-to-left shunting. It is most obvious on the tip of the nose, lips, and nail beds.

3. Squatting: Children with cyanotic congenital heart disease, especially those with tetralogy of Fallot, often show squatting signs after activities. This can increase systemic vascular resistance and thus reduce the right-to-left shunt caused by the septal defect, while also increasing venous blood return to the right heart, thereby improving pulmonary blood flow.

4. Clubbing of fingers and toes and polycythemia: Cyanotic congenital heart disease is almost always accompanied by clubbing of fingers and toes and polycythemia. The mechanism of clubbing is still unclear, but polycythemia is a physiological response of the body to arterial hypoxia.

5. Pulmonary hypertension: When patients with septal defect or patent ductus arteriosus develop severe syndromes such as pulmonary hypertension and cyanosis, it is called Eisenmenger's syndrome. The clinical manifestations are cyanosis, polycythemia, clubbing of fingers (toes), and signs of right heart failure such as distended jugular veins, hepatomegaly, and edema of surrounding tissues. At this time, the patient has lost the opportunity for surgery and the only thing waiting is heart and lung transplantation. Most patients die before the age of 40.

6. Developmental disorders: Children with congenital heart disease often develop abnormally, with symptoms such as being thin, malnourished, and delayed in development.

Congenital heart disease has a great impact on children's physical health. We recommend that everyone should know how to deal with the occurrence of this disease in life. Regarding the symptoms of congenital heart disease, we recommend that everyone should remember them in life so that the presence of heart disease can be detected in time.