Tetralogy of Fallot in Children and Left-Sided Congestive Heart Failure

Tetralogy of Fallot in Children and Left-sided Congestive Heart Failure
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Tetralogy of Fallot in Children and Left-sided Congestive Heart Failure
The heart is one of the most important organs in the body. It is basically a muscular and hollow organ performing the function of pumping blood throughout the body. Its main purpose is transport of nutrients and oxygen to different body parts. At the same time, it helps cleanse the blood returning from the body parts off carbon dioxide, giving it oxygen. The lungs, on the other hand, are the organs through which oxygen enters and carbon dioxide leaves the body. Unfortunately, certain conditions affect the heart and lungs, preventing them to function properly. This paper singles out tetralogy of Fallot in children and left-sided congestive heart failure for discussion. It explains their causes and characteristics as well as the anatomic features in play.
Tetralogy of Fallot in Children
As the name suggests, tetralogy of Fallot is a combination of four heart condition symptoms present at birth and related through the way in which they affect the flow of blood through the heart and to the lungs. Among them is Ventricular Septal Defect, a condition in which there is a hole in the wall which separates the two chambers of the lower part of the heart. The blood in the left chamber is rich in oxygen while the right chamber blood has low oxygen. When there is a hole in the wall separating them, the two kinds of bloods mix with the result of too much or little blood flowing to the lungs (McCance & Huether, 2018). Pulmonary Stenosis is a condition in which the path connecting the lower right chamber of the heart to the vessel that transports blood low in oxygen to the lungs is blocked (Allen et al., 2013). This tasks the heart to work harder and there is less blood with high oxygen content travelling throughout the body. The Right Ventricular Hypertrophy is a condition in which the wall of the lower right side of the heart is thickened. Consequently, blood flow to the lungs from the heart is blocked. Finally, Overriding Aorta is a situation in which the vessel carrying blood rich in oxygen to the body is located above both lower chambers of the heart in place of only the left chamber (Rychik & Tian, 2011). The result is penetration of low-oxygen blood into the body through the aorta, the vessel charged with the function. Due to the movement of blood low in oxygen to the body, cyanosis - a condition evidenced by bluish color on the child’s skin - occurs.
Cyanosis may also appear on the child’s lips and nails when there is agitation or after crying. Known as tet spells, the condition sets in among infants bet...