Truncus Arteriosus

TRUNCUS ARTERIOSUS

Introduction

Truncus Arteriosus is a congenital heart imperfection in which just one arterial trunk departs the heart instead of the normal two via a single arterial valve, and directly gives rise to the systemic, coronary and one, or both, pulmonary arteries (Keith, 1978). It is the rare but serious cardiovascular defect. The basic purpose of this document is to specify the signs and symptoms related to Truncus Arteriosus that can assist in the diagnostic procedures for the disease. It also analyzes the significant effects of the symptoms on an individual and on population. Furthermore the document describes etiology of the disease illustrating its key risk factors.

Discussion

In Depth Details and Affects of Truncus Arteriosus on a Patient

The heart of a normal baby has a single great artery known as truncus arteriosus that in normal condition branches out into two vessels namely aorta that pumps blood to the entire body and pulmonary artery that pumps blood to the lungs. Truncus arteriosus is the result of the failure of the artery to divide properly into aorta and pulmonary artery and the Truncus arteriosus then becomes responsible for pumping blood to both lungs and the entire body. This is usually accompanied by another birth default known as ventricular septal defect abbreviated as VSD (Kenner and Lott, 2007). VSD is a default that occurs due to hole in the muscular wall separating two pumping chamber of heart that separate oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. This eventually results in the mixing of oxygen rich and oxygen poor blood rushing out of the single vessel. This can cause congestive heart failure as excessive amount of blood flow is initiated. Further more extensive circulation of blood may lead to build of up excessive fluid in lungs thereby making it too much difficult to breath. Blood vessels leading to the lungs might become eternally damaged. Eventually with time heart is unable to force blood to them, a condition known as pulmonary hypertension. Majority of the babies recover after undergoing the surgical treatment of the disease, however, in future, they remain at risk factor for other heart issues such as arrhythmias and leaky valves. They usually need further treatments before getting into adulthood.

Etiology

Just like most of the congenital defects of heart, the cause for Truncus Arteriosus is precisely not specified. However factors that can augment the risk of the development of Truncus Arteriosus include: Viral diseases such as rubella during pregnancy, gestational diabetes that is not controlled, medications that can aid in genetic mutation, chromosomal disorder and disorders like Velocardiofacial Syndrome can give rise to heart deformities

Signs and Symptoms

A baby with truncus arteriosus usually starts facing problems with the onset of his/her life. Usually within first two weeks baby starts struggling with symptoms of truncus arteriosus. Their oxygen levels are often slightly lower than normal resulting in cyanosis.

Due to truncus arteriosus extreme and disproportionate quantity of blood is surged to the lungs this leads to another disease known as congestive heart failure (CHF) that is seen to develop ...