Pathophysiology of Congenital Heart Disease Flashcards
How does most of the blood proceed from the umbilical vein and why?
Umbilical vein -> ductus venosus -> IVC -> directly through foramen ovale -> LA -> LV -> aorta to oxygenate the head first
This is based on the direction of the jet stream hitting the right atrium, the most oxygenated blood will go through the patent foramen ovale
What blood reaches the pulmonary circulation and the lower extremities?
Venous blood from SVC coming back from the head will go into RV. A small amount will enter the pulmonary circulation, with the rest going through the PDA and mixing with the aortic blood for the head to give decently oxygenated blood to the lower extremities
When do symptoms of a congenital heart disease most often manifest?
When ductus arteriosus closes within first 10-15 hours of life, resulting in unfavorable conditions
Why is the fetal circulation described in terms of CVO (combined ventricular output)?
The amount of blood (stroke volume) pumped by the left and right ventricles is not equal - CVO is a better measure of cardiac output
- > RV generally pumps more blood and gives the extra through the PDA
- > in adults, SV is equal in left and right ventricle since circulations are in series
What provides the pressure surrounding the heart in fetal / adult circulation? Is this positive or negative?
Fetal - amniotic fluid - positive pressure
Adult - thoracic cavity - negative pressure
What factors maintain the aortic diastolic pressure?
Aortic valve
Elastic recoil of large arteries
What are the determinants of vascular resistance? What is it?
Resistance - the force opposing the movement of blood through the blood vessel
- Tube length
- Blood viscosity - determined by hemotocrit
- Radius of vessel - R^4!!
What chromosomal disorders are significant correlated with congenital heart disease (CHD)?
- Trisomy 21
- Trisomy 18
- Trisomy 13
- DiGeorge syndrome
- Turner syndrome
What is the definition of congestive heart failure and what types of things cause this in CHD?
Systemic CO is inadequate to meet metabolic needs of body.
- Poor ventricular function - severe obstructive lesions
- Abnormal distribution of cardiac output (VSDs)
What are some of the common symptoms of CHF in CHD?
Dyspnea on exertion
Frequent respiratory infections (esp. left-to-right shunts causing pulmonary edema)
Irritability / decreased feeding volumes, and growth failure
Tachypnea, tachycardia, and hepatomegaly (RAA activation)
What are some examples of CHDs with PDA dependent systemic circulation? Which way is the shunting of the blood in PDA? How will the patient present?
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
Severe coarctation of aorta
Critical aortic stenosis
Shunting is right-to-left thru PDA (pump via RV)
Patient presents with cardiogenic shock upon PDA closure
What are some examples of CHDs with PDA dependent pulmonary circulation? Which way is the shunting of the blood in PDA? How will the patient present?
Pulmonary atresia
Critical pulmonic stenosis
Shunting is left-to-right thru PDA to get to lungs
Patient presents with severe cyanosis (blood not getting to lungs)
When does cyanosis become apparent? In what situation is this easy to detect?
When >5 gm/dL desaturated hemoglobin is present in blood
Normal blood is 2 gm/dL
Easy to detect with high hematocrit levels (polycythemia) -> less percentage O2 saturation decrease is needed to cause an absolute desaturation increase by 3 gm/dL
What is the general difference between central and peripheral cyanosis?
Central - Arterial O2 saturation is decreased
Peripheral - Blood flow to a local organ is decreased, causing cyanosis
How do central and peripheral cyanosis differ with respect to sites they will be seen, temperature of limb, clubbing / polycythemia, and improvement with local heat?
Central -> seen in mucous membranes of tongue / inside mouth, peripheral seen just on skin of distal extremities
Temperature of limb will be warm in central cyanosis (blood is able to reach, just deoxygenated), and cold in peripheral (decreased flow)
Clubbing / polycythemia will be present in central but not peripheral (transient in response to cold)
Local heat -> improves peripheral cyanosis with blood through and circulation, no effect on central
What is the hyperoxia test for cyanosis and how does it work?
Give patient 100% oxygen for 15 minutes. If arterial pO2 fails to increase more than 150 after 15 minutes, it suggests cyanotic heart disease (oxygen is sufficiency, but heart is not distributing blood adequately)
For mixing lesions, what is the optimal systemic arterial blood O2? What can be used to increase this number, and is this always better?
When pulmonary and systemic venous return are equal -> 80% (systemic = 60%, pulmonary = 100%)
Pulmonary blood flow can be increased via oxygen and PGE1 -> not always beneficial because it can cause hyaline membrane disease
Why does hypertrophic osteoarthropathy happen in cyanosis?
Same reason as polycythemia -> hypoxia causes growth factors to be released. In this case, capillaries are stimulated, and these growth factors cannot be inactivated in the lungs as well.
How does cyanosis predispose to strokes and cerebral abscesses?
- Lungs have a filtering function -> emboli from venous systemic circulation can be shunted directly to systemic circulation (paradoxical emboli)
- Increased blood viscosity due to polycythemia
What is the #1 risk factor for stroke in cyanotic heart disease? Why?
Iron deficiency anemia
- > microcytic RBCs are less deformable in microcirculation of CNS
- > greater stroke risk in presence of polycythemia
What is pulmonary vascular occlusive disease (PVOD) and when does it occur? How long does it take?
Increased resistance to pulmonary blood flow, occurs in left-right shunt conditions
Takes 1-2 years, possibly reversing the shunt to right to left and causing cyanosis
In the presence of a VSD -> Eisenmenger syndrome
What are the signs and symptoms of pulmonary vascular occlusive disease?
Exercise intolerance with cyanosis
Right heart failure
CNS events / strokes
Pulmonary hemorrhage w/ vascular changes (high pressure)
What is the result of non-cyanotic shunt lesions?
These are left-right shunts
Result is pulmonary congestion, as more blood enters pulmonary circulation than systemic circulation (regardless of shunt location)
What are the four main kinds of non-cyanotic shunt lesions?
- Atrial septal defect
- Ventricular septal defect
- Patent ductus arteriosus
- Common AV canal / AV septal defect
What murmur will ASD cause?
Asymptomatic pulmonary stenosis murmur due to relative increase of blood thru pulmonary artery (heart at LUSB)