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Pediatric cardiology

Top Doctors
Top Doctors editorial
Top Doctors
Created by: Top Doctors editorial

What is infantile cardiology?

Pediatric Cardiology or Pediatric Cardiology is the branch of medicine and pediatrics that studies heart disease in the pediatric age. It begins in the fetal life, with the diagnosis of intrauterine heart disease, and it reaches the end of adolescence. It is a medical-surgical specialty, since many heart diseases require surgical intervention and the pediatric cardiologist must be trained to do so.

Diseases or pathologies that Child Cardiology treats

Pediatric or pediatric cardiology studies and treats congenital anomalies of the heart (congenital heart disease), which encompass all those disorders in the function of the heart and large blood vessels. These, possibly, will be present from pregnancy, in fetal life, and will manifest at the birth of the baby. Other heart diseases will be acquired during childhood. Some of them are:

- Congenital heart disease

- Arrhythmia

- Vascular malformations

- Chest pain

- Syncope

- Heart murmur

- Sudden death

When to go to the expert in Children's Cardiology

You should always see a child cardiologist when a child suffers difficulty or sweating with the milk intake or increases their respiratory rate during them. Other ways to suspect a heart disease in a child is observing the appearance of cyanosis or bluish color on the lips, fatigue, tachycardia, loss of consciousness, pale and cold hands and feet (sign of poor circulation), reluctance or fever, between others. However, another possibility is that the child does not present symptoms, and is detected by auscultation of a murmur or noise in the heart, by the child cardiologist.

The diagnosis of possible heart disease will usually be made with a chest x-ray to show a possible enlargement of the heart. There are also other diagnostic tests that will be applied if the child cardiologist considers it: electrocardiography, cardiac ultrasound, stress test, Holter for 24/48 hours, blood cultures to detect possible infections, blood tests to detect viruses, blood count, heart biopsy or special exams Treatment will vary depending on the alteration, and can range from surgery, through catheterization, medication or a combination of all, even not indicate any treatment and only control that does not worsen the child's cardiological situation.

Keywords in Children's cardiology: congenital heart disease, chest pain, syncope, heart murmur, holter, child cardiologist, stress test.