MDMA's Effects on the Heart and Cardiovascular System

How To Suspect That Your Child May Be Suffering From A Heart Defect?

Children with congenital heart defects Congenital Heart Defects are the most common congenital problem, affecting every 100 live-born babies. In our country, it is not uncommon to see grown-ups diagnosed for the first time with congenital heart defects, and late presentation is primarily due to lack of awareness and health facilities. It is the responsibility of all of us—medical personnel, parents, and society—to work together to increase awareness about the disease so that diagnosis can be made on time and treatment can be offered.

Signs that your child may be suffering from a heart defect? Difficulty in feeding: Feeding difficulty is a common presenting feature in an infant. Parents may complain that the baby gets tired during feeds, takes small, interrupted feeds, and may exhibit excessive sweating. It is not uncommon to switch to bottle feed as the mother becomes very apprehensive.

Poor weight gain: According to Dr. Munesh Tomar, Director, Paediatric Cardiology, Max Superspeciality Hospital Saket Delhi, "With underlying severe heart disease, there is an increase in caloric demand, but the child is unable to take adequate calories, leading to poor weight gain. Recurrent chest infections also contribute to failure to thrive."

Blueness (cyanosis): The earlier the blueness appears, the more serious the heart defect. Some blue babies present in the emergency room with excessive crying and deepening of cyanosis, known as "cyanotic spells." If there is a history suggestive of a "cyanotic spell," the child needs early intervention.

Tiredness: Early tiredness and inability to keep pace with peers while playing.

Fast heartbeat: Fast heart beat, high blood pressure, frequent chest infections and hospitalizations and sometimes fainting (syncope) could be the presenting symptoms.

What should parents do? If you notice any of the above symptoms, consult a pediatrician. The treating pediatrician may refer the baby to a pediatric cardiologist if there is suspicion of a heart problem. Detailed cardiac evaluation is a must to diagnose the problem and determine the timing of intervention.

Is there any way to detect heart defects before birth? Congenital heart defects can be found before birth by fetal echocardiography, helping families to plan postnatal care and treatment. The ideal time for fetal echocardiography is 18-20 weeks of gestation.

Heart disease in young Indians: Causes, prevention and some critical insights by Dr. Ramakanta Panda

Artificial Intelligence Detects Heart Defects In Newborns

Many children announce their arrival in the delivery room with a piercing cry. As a newborn automatically takes its first breath, the lungs inflate, the blood vessels in the lungs widen, and the whole circulatory system reconfigures itself to life outside the womb. This process doesn't always go to plan, however. Some infants -- particularly those who are very sick or born prematurely -- suffer from pulmonary hypertension, a serious disorder in which the arteries to the lungs remain narrowed after delivery or close up again in the first few days or weeks after birth. This constricts the flow of blood to the lungs, reducing the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Prompt diagnosis and treatment improve prognosis

Severe cases of pulmonary hypertension need to be detected and treated as rapidly as possible. The sooner treatment begins, the better the prognosis for the newborn infant. Yet making the correct diagnosis can be challenging. Only experienced paediatric cardiologists are able to diagnose pulmonary hypertension based on a comprehensive ultrasound examination of the heart. "Detecting pulmonary hypertension is time-consuming and requires a cardiologist with highly specific expertise and many years of experience. Only the largest paediatric clinics tend to have those skills on hand," says Professor Sven Wellmann, Medical Director of the Department of Neonatology at KUNO Klinik St. Hedwig, part of the Hospital of the Order of St. John in Regensburg in Germany.

Researchers from the group led by Julia Vogt, who runs the Medical Data Science Group at ETH Zurich, recently teamed up with neonatologists at KUNO Klinik St. Hedwig to develop a computer model that provides reliable support in diagnosing the disease in newborn infants. Their results have now been published in the International Journal of Computer Vision.

Making AI reliable and explainable

The ETH researchers began by training their algorithm on hundreds of video recordings taken from ultrasound examinations of the hearts of 192 newborns. This dataset also included moving images of the beating heart taken from different angles as well as diagnoses by experienced paediatric cardiologists (is pulmonary hypertension present or not) and an evaluation of the disease's severity ("mild" or "moderate to severe"). To determine the algorithm's success at interpreting the images, the researchers subsequently added a second dataset of ultrasound images from 78 newborn infants, which the model had never seen before. The model suggested the correct diagnosis in around 80 to 90 percent of cases and was able to determine the correct level of disease severity in around 65 to 85 percent of cases.

"The key to using a machine-learning model in a medical context is not just the prediction accuracy, but also whether humans are able to understand the criteria the model uses to make decisions," Vogt says. Her model makes this possible by highlighting the parts of the ultrasound image on which its categorisation is based. This allows doctors to see exactly which areas or characteristics of the heart and its blood vessels the model considered to be suspicious. When the paediatric cardiologists examined the datasets, they discovered that the model looks at the same characteristics as they do, even though it was not explicitly programmed to do so.

A human makes the diagnosis

This machine-learning model could potentially be extended to other organs and diseases, for example to diagnose heart septal defects or valvular heart disease.

It could also be useful in regions where no specialists are available: standardised ultrasound images could be taken by a healthcare professional, and the model could then provide a preliminary risk assessment and an indication of whether a specialist should be consulted. Medical facilities that do have access to highly qualified specialists could use the model to ease their workload and to help reach a better and more objective diagnosis. "AI has the potential to make significant improvements to healthcare. The crucial issue for us is that the final decision should always be made by a human, by a doctor. AI should simply be providing support to ensure that the maximum number of people can receive the best possible medical care," Vogt says.

Heart Disease News

Mar. 14, 2024 — Managing circadian rhythms through intense light and chronologically timed therapy can help prevent or treat a variety of circulatory system conditions including heart disease, according to a new ...

Mar. 13, 2024 — Researchers from ETH Zurich and KUNO Klinik St. Hedwig in Regensburg have developed an algorithm that provides an automatic and reliable method of detecting a certain heart defect in newborns. ...

Mar. 5, 2024 — Coronary artery calcium scoring with CT can identify symptomatic patients with a very low risk of heart attacks or strokes. Researchers said the findings may one day help some patients with stable ...

Feb. 28, 2024 — More frequent use of cannabis was associated with higher odds of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, finds new ...

Feb. 28, 2024 — A reusable vest that can map the electric impulses of the heart in fine detail could detect abnormalities from a potentially fatal heart disease much earlier than is currently possible, a new study ...

Feb. 27, 2024 — Findings of a review of data from three clinical trials challenge current best practice for use of the drug for primary prevention of heart disease or stroke -- otherwise known as atherosclerotic ...

Feb. 22, 2024 — A large-scale review provides an update on the recent advances in understanding and managing risk factors for atrial fibrillation ...

Feb. 21, 2024 — Study shows greater muscle area in men leads increased risk of heart disease; it's different for muscle ...

Feb. 21, 2024 — A team of researchers has developed a wireless device,

Feb. 21, 2024 — In ambulatory women ages 63-99 years, higher amounts of usual daily light and moderate intensity activities were associated with lower risk of developing heart failure with preserved ejection ...

Feb. 20, 2024 — The drug finasteride, also known as Propecia or Proscar, treats male pattern baldness and enlarged prostate in millions of men worldwide. But a new study suggests the drug may also provide a ...

Feb. 19, 2024 — Researchers have identified a new pathway that contributes to cardiovascular disease associated with high levels of niacin, a common B vitamin previously recommended to lower cholesterol. The team ...

Feb. 16, 2024 — The efficiency of oxygen supply to tissues is a factor in the severity of important diseases such as Covid-19 and heart conditions. Scientists already know that the relationship between the length of ...

Feb. 16, 2024 — Having a heart attack significantly increases the risk of developing other serious long-term health conditions, a major new study shows. Researchers analyzed more than 145 million records covering ...

Feb. 14, 2024 — A groundbreaking scientific study has unveiled a remarkable discovery that may have far-reaching implications for the treatment of heart disease. The implications are immense offering glimpses of a ...

Feb. 14, 2024 — Researchers discovered why ventricular assist devices (VADs) used to support the left ventricle of cardiogenic shock patients can induce right ventricle dysfunction. They also developed a test that ...

Feb. 14, 2024 — Women who have both migraines and a long-term history of hot flashes and/or night sweats have a slightly higher risk of heart disease and stroke, and young women who have migraines have a higher risk ...

Feb. 13, 2024 — People using anabolic steroids could be increasing their underlying risk of a heart condition called atrial fibrillation, according to a new ...

Feb. 12, 2024 — You can mend a broken heart this valentine s day now that researchers invented a new hydrogel that can be used to heal damaged heart tissue and improve cancer ...

Feb. 12, 2024 — Using the results of a standard blood test and an online tool, you can find out if you are at increased risk of having a heart attack within six ...

---