Infants Can Have Heart Attacks?

The heart works like a pump. It is divided into two pieces, one on the right and one on the left, with an upper and lower half in each. The upper section, known as the atrium, receives blood from the body and pumps it through a one-way valve into the lower section, known as the ventricle. These valves prevent blood from returning to the heart. The right side of the heart transports oxygen-depleted blood from the body to the lungs, where it is oxygenated.

Smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary artery disease, and defective heart valves can contribute to adult heart failure. Other variables can also contribute to it in newborns, babies, toddlers, and teenagers. Because there are numerous causes and effects of heart failure in children, it is vital to understand how it is diagnosed, treated, and potentially healed.

Over circulation failure: approximately 1% of all newborn babies will have a structural heart defect. Some of these abnormalities have gaps between the right and left chambers of the heart. Because of these perforations, oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood mix inside the heart. An AV malformation (defect in blood arteries in the brain or other parts of the body) might cause analogous mixing of oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood outside the heart.

Pump failure: Pump failure can occur in a child's heart, just as it might in an adult's. This can be caused by a viral infection, which damages normally healthy heart muscle. Pump failure can also be caused by coronary artery problems, which prevent enough blood flow to the heart muscle. Coronary artery disease can occur as a result of infection or during pregnancy.

Although any youngster can develop heart failure the disease is not necessarily fatal. Many of the causes can be reversed. Parents and family members should be aware of the causes and treatments for pediatrics heart failure.