serious medacal info needed my BEST friend needs thios operation and I'm wo!
Question: Serious medacal info needed my BEST friend needs thios operation and I'm worried sick?
she has something like A ventricular septal defect (VSD)
They say its nothing to worry to much about bud come one! its her heart and she's my best friend!
what's this kind of diseasese ??? I dont want to loose her!
Do people die of this????
She is such nice girl I pray for her. this have to come alright.
Answers:
Hello,
It does depend a bit on how old your friend is, a VSD is usually present from birth. (If this problem is picked up at birth, the closure operation is often done around the age of 7).
The position of the hole is shown quite well here, in this pic, (click) http://jazzyboo.files.wordpress.com/2008…
Although the heart is anatomically a unity, functionally it is two-pumps-in-one. The RIGHT side of the heart pumps blood to the lungs, and the LEFT side of the heart pumps blood to the body. Normally there is no cross-connection between the two circulations.
If there *is* a cross connection, it is most commonly where your friend has it, i.e. a VSD.
The left side of the heart is much more powerful than the right side. This means that some of the blood meant for the body, gets shoved back through the VSD into the right side, (the lung circulation). This causes a "heart murmur," - the noise made by the blood swooshing through the hole, - and this extra blood shoved into the right side of the heart, causes extra strain on the lungs.
The hole of a VSD may often close off spontaneously, in childhood, - if it is small to start with,- and no operation may be required. Clearly this has not been the case with your friend.
Ideally the problem should be fixed (the hole should close, one way or another) before adulthood, or (at very worst), sooner or later the blood-flow through the hole will reverse direction.. This development is a bit complicated, and is called Eisenmenger's Syndrome, (pronounced EYE'' - zen - men - gurrs), but anyway it is very serious and the person starts going blue on exercise.
To close a VSD surgically is a relatively straightforward heart operation. It is a relatively low-risk procedure. A synthetic patch is often used, please see this piccy, (click) http://www.medindia.net/patients/patient…
The operative mortality so far as I can discover, present-day, is smallest in children with no complications. In children over 6 months, the operative mortality is about 1% (1 in 100), see here for my Source, (click) http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/89…
In adults with complications already, anywhere up to the Eisenmenger syndrome, the operative mortality seems to be about 5%, (1 in 20), for my Source: see here, (click) http://interventions.onlinejacc.org/cgi/…
I hope this is of some help. I do hope your friend is OK. I'm sure she will be.
Best wishes,
Belliger
retired uk gp
She will most likely be ok. It is a serious surgery, any heart surgery is. A VSD is basically an opening between the right and left ventricles of the heart, which causes blood to flow in the wrong direction(s.) It can be serious if the opening is big enough. It's most often a congenital malformation, which means she was born with it, but can also be caused after a MI, or heart attack. I will pray for you and your friend. :)