False chord in the heart

Do not panic if the diagnosis showed that the child has an additional chord in the heart. What it is and how to treat it - these are the main questions that parents should answer at the very beginning.

Pathology can be detected in a child in early childhood, and its treatment must begin immediately after the diagnosis is made. It is treated and has no serious consequences.

general characteristics

Even elementary school knowledge in anatomy is enough to understand the structure of the human heart. It consists of the right and left atria connected to the ventricles. Between each atrium and ventricle there is a valve that regulates blood circulation. Each valve opens and closes with the help of thin tendons - this is the chord in the heart. Accordingly, there should be two of them.

If another formation appears in one of the ventricles, which may have a tendon or muscle structure that is not involved in the operation of the valve, it is called the "additional chord".

Most often, such a chord of the heart in a child develops even in the womb and is the result of a genetic predisposition. So, in the family, one of the relatives - grandparents or parents - had heart disease. However, in the vast majority of cases, it is passed down through the mother.

There are other reasons too:

• malnutrition and bad habits of the mother in the first three months of pregnancy;
• severe infectious diseases transferred during the period of bearing a child;
• severe stress during pregnancy;
• weak immunity of the mother in the same period.

In more than 90% of cases, an accessory chord develops in the left heart ventricle. And very rarely - in the right. Again, more often only one extra chord in the heart is detected. But in about thirty percent of cases, false chords can be multiple.

Types and forms of anomalies

The accessory chord can be located at different locations in the ventricle. So, there are basal, median and apical false chords. This false formation can grow across the ventricle, along or diagonally.

Specialists distinguish two types of chord of the heart:

1. Hemodynamically insignificant. Such a false chord does not affect the blood flow in any way and is equated to a normal variant.
2. Hemodynamically significant. This abnormal notochord can cause heart problems by interfering with normal blood flow.

How can pathology manifest itself?

Fortunately, when a single extra chord in the left ventricle is found in a child, it rarely manifests itself at all.

But if there are several chords of the heart or falseness is detected in the right ventricle, then a number of symptoms can be noted in the child:

• fatigue and decreased stamina;
• general weakness;
• cardiopalmus;
• dizziness;
• sudden changes in emotional state;
• complaints of tingling in the heart.

Moreover, most often these symptoms of a chord of the heart appear in a child during the period of growth: in early school and adolescence.

Diagnosis of this phenomenon

Ultrasound of the heart can be considered the simplest and most effective way to diagnose this phenomenon. This study will show where and how the additional chord is located. If it is in the right ventricle, it can cause a heart murmur.

In this case, the child may be assigned an ECG as an additional study. It will allow you to identify hidden problems that may arise due to the chord of the heart in adolescence.

If studies show that an abnormal notochord can cause problems for a child in the future, this does not mean that heart disease awaits him in adulthood.

To avoid such consequences, additional studies are carried out for the child already at school age:

• bicycle ergometry:
• Holter monitoring.

They will show how the heart develops and grows, therefore, how the additional chord behaves in new conditions.

Treatment, prevention, consequences

Only in thirty percent of cases, children with such anomalies acquire heart disease in adulthood.

And these are not such terrible diagnoses as a heart attack, often it is arrhythmia or tachycardia, which can be attributed more to disorders of the cardiovascular system than to serious illnesses.

In cases where a false chord is found in the left ventricle and it is single, then this formation is not so dangerous. By the time of growing up, it may disappear altogether. The heart of the child grows, increases in volume, the chord of the heart can become almost invisible.

But in any case, if a child has been diagnosed with such an education, you need to clearly listen to the advice of specialists:

1. For the baby, an individual norm of loads is developed.
2. Doctors recommend following a clear daily routine, where work or active actions alternate with rest and passive activities.
3. And it is also important to immediately accustom the baby to a full-fledged proper nutrition.

If a child has a false chord, this does not mean that he is forbidden to play sports. You just need to choose not power types, but such, for example, as dancing or gymnastics. But swimming or parachuting will have to be abandoned.

An abnormal chorda can interfere with the child, quickly causing a feeling of fatigue and unpleasant tingling in the chest. In this case, medications are prescribed that nourish, strengthen the heart muscle and normalize metabolic processes.

So this question is almost always solved, and the diagnosis is not terrible.