Paediatric Cardiology Flashcards
What congenital heart problems can children have?
Septal defects PDA Valve stenosis (A or P) Coarctation of the aorta Tetralogy of Fallot Transposition of the great arteries
How do congenital heart defects present?
With heart failure, a murmur, shock, or cyanosis.
What is the most common congenital heart defect?
Ventricular septal defect, by far.
If a newborn present with the symptoms of heart failure, what do we suspect? (In order of likelihood)
- Ventricular septal defect
- Patent ductus arteriosus
- Atrioventricular septal defect
Tell me about a ventricular septal defect.
Can be membranous or muscular.
May be asymptomatic, and many close spontaneously.
O/E harsh pansystolic murmur at lower left sternal edge + parasternal thrill.
If a newborn has down’s syndrome and presents with heart failure, what should we suspect?
Atrioventricular septal defect - 40% are associated with Down’s.
How can we look for AVSD?
ECG
What will an ECG of AVSD look like?
Superior QRS axis
A baby is brought into A and E by her father because she turned blue.
Which 2 systems are we trying to work with here?
Cardiovascular and respiratory
A baby is brought into A and E by her father because she turned blue.
What cardiac causes are there for a blue baby?
- Heart failure
- Heart murmurs
- Congenital heart disease (L->R shunting)
What are the 5 S’s of innocent murmurs in children?
- Short
- Symptomless
- Systolic
- Soft
- Sitting/standing (vary with position)
A baby is brought into A and E by her father because she turned blue.
What respiratory causes are there for a blue baby?
- IRDS
- Birth asphyxia/injury/haemorrhage
- Transient tachypnoea of the newborn
- Pneumothorax
- Meconium aspiration
- Pulmonary oedema
- CDH
- Pleural effusion
- URT obstruction
A newborn is centrally cyanosed. How quickly should this clear after birth?
Within a few minutes.
A child is blue, and not because they’re dressing up as a smurf.
What assessment should we do?
ABCDE - look for cardiac or respiratory causes as you go, as well as other potential causes.
A child is blue, and not because they’re dressing up as a smurf.
What initial management can we do after A to E?
- Bloods - FBC, U and Es, ABG, glucose, cultures.
- Urine dip/culture
- Lumbar puncture if indicated
- ECG
- Echocardiogram
- CXR
How does heart failure manifest in a child?
Signs of poor tissue perfusion (Fatigue, poor exercise tolerance, confusion)
and/or
Signs of congestion (SoB, pleural effusion, hepatomegaly, oedema)
What are the 4 categories of pathologies underlying paediatric heart failure?
- Increased afterload
- Increased preload
- Myocardial abnormalities
- Tachyrrythmias
A child presents with symptoms of heart failure.
What broad differential should be top of our list?
Congenital structural defect
What is a hypoplastic left heart?
Where the left side of the heart does no form properly.
This results in an aortic arch being present but the left ventricle, and aortic and mitral valves are atresic or very small.
What causes of myocardial ischaemia are there in children?
- Kawasaki disease
- Anomalous left coronary artery
What common murmur can be heard best at the lower sternal edge in a child?
VSD
What common murmur can be heard best at the upper sternal edge in a child?
Aortic or pulmonary stenosis
What common murmur can be heard best at the base of the neck in a child?
Aortic valve lesion
How do we classify the volume of a heart murmur?
Out of 6:
1- quiet murmur, not always audible
2- clearly audible but quiet murmur
3- loud murmur, no palpable thrill
4- loud murmur with palpable thrill
5- loud murmur with palpable thrill (can hear with only rim of stethoscope)
6- loud murmur with palpable thrill (can hear with stethoscope just lifted off chest)
What is a cyanotic spell?
A period of time where a child becomes blue around the lips/mouth/nail beds
Which 2 cardiac conditions are associated most with cyanotic spells?
- Tetralogy of Fallot
- Pulmonary atresia
When do most cyanotic spells occur?
Early in the morning, or in the context of stress or dehydration
A child presents with cyanotic spells.
What should form part of your initial assessment?
- Severity of cyanosis/pallor
- Distress (resp) - what could be causing it (pain?)
- Dehydration
- ?structural heart disease
- ?heart murmur
Full Hx and Examination
How do you manage cyanotic spells initially?
- Knee to chest position
- High flow O2
- Avoid stress/making stress worse
- Morphine I.M.
- ECG monitoring (cont)
- Obs
Find they underlying cause.
What are the 4 elements of tetralogy of Fallot?
- Large VSD
- Overriding aorta
- RV outflow obstruction
- RV hypertrophy
What does the degree of cyanosis depend on in tetralogy of Fallot?
Degree of RV outflow obstruction
An infant presents with episodic cyanotic spells, and clubbing of her fingers.
What is the top differential?
Tetralogy of Fallot
What is the early management of tetralogy of Fallot?
If severe, prostaglandin E infusion and surgery to insert a shunt.
What is the definitive management of tetralogy of Fallot?
Surgery carried out from 4 months of age onwards
What is the prognosis for treated ToF?
Good - unrestricted lives, although may need pulmonary valve replacement in teenage years.
May have conductive defects post-op.
When does the ductus arteriosus close?
After roughly 2-3 days of life (although can take a few days longer)
How does pulmonary blood flow increase after birth?
In utero, pulomary vascular resistance is high.
After birth when the lungs inflate and expel the fluid within them, pulmonary vasculature resistance decreases so blood flow can increase through the lungs.
What compound is responsible for closing the ductus arteriosus?
How can we use this to our advantage?
Prostaglandins (lack of/lower levels of).
These can be given to a newborn with cyanotic heart disease to maintain the patency of the ductus arteriosus so mixing can occur.
When do most cases of CHD get picked up?
Antenatal screening picks up ~70% of cases of CHD
What are the 5 major ways in which CHD can present?
- Cyanosis
- Heart failure
- Murmur
- Collapse
- Oxygen saturation screening
What other broad differentials should be on your mind when considering CHD?
Why?
Sepsis and respiratory disease.
It is often hard to differentiate them in a newborn.
Which heart defects are associated most with Turner’s syndrome?
-Co-arctation of the aorta
-Biscuspid aortic valve
(-Mitral stenosis)