"Bang! A loud sound of falling to the ground sounded in the classroom, and Xiao Wei (pseudonym), who was sleeping on his desk, suddenly fell sideways to the floor. "Xiaowei, what's wrong with you! When the teacher heard the sound, he rushed to the boy who was unconscious, and he didn't respond to even shouting several times, and he didn't ...... breathe
What's wrong with Xiaowei's body? It starts with the heart.
We know that the blood of the human body is pumped to the whole body by the heart, and if the heart is compared to a "water pump", the left ventricle is the source of the pump's power - the "motor", and the aortic valve between the left ventricle and the aorta is the "valve" of the water pump. Blood travels from the left ventricle through a "valve" and flows into the aorta before it can be pumped throughout the body.
Xiaowei's "motor" and "valve" all failed, and his life was in danger. On February 19, the reporter learned that under the "skillful hands" of experts from the Children's Hospital Affiliated to the Intensive Medical College, Xiaowei's heart had recovered and he was discharged from the hospital recently.
The child recovered well after surgery. Courtesy of the hospital.
13-year-old Xiaowei is from Dazhou, Sichuan, according to Xiaowei's mother's recollection, Xiaowei fainted a total of 4 times in 2023, and all of them occurred in sleep, "Every time the syncope occurred, he neither breathed nor had a heartbeat." Therefore, every time he faints, the school teacher and Xiaowei's parents will perform chest compressions for him as soon as possible, and generally after one to two minutes, Xiaowei will slowly wake up, but he has no impression of his syncope. In addition, Xiaowei usually has chest pain and shortness of breath after activity.
In the face of Xiaowei's heart problems, his parents have long had an early warning in their hearts. 6 years ago, Xiaowei was diagnosed with aortic stenosis, but due to the limitations of medical technology at that time and the symptoms were not particularly severe, his parents decided to be conservative with medication**.
In December 2023, Xiaowei fainted again at home, and the fear that the child would never wake up after the next fainting was shrouded in the couple's hearts, so they took Xiaowei to the Department of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery of the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Intensive Medical Care for treatment.
Doctors are discussing the child's condition. Courtesy of the hospital.
After examination, the child was diagnosed with "left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, including severe aortic stenosis and subvalvular stenosis; left ventricular wall myocardial hypertrophy", which means that Xiaowei not only has a failure in the "motor" and "valve" of the "heart pump", but also the "traffic artery" for the heart to pump blood to the whole body, the left ventricular outflow tract (that is, the left ventricle to the aorta) is also blocked.
According to Ernst & Young, chief physician of the hospital's thoracic and cardiac surgery, the aortic valve is called the heart gate of the heart, and the normal aortic valve is a three-cuspid valve, while Xiaowei's only has two crests, and when the valve opens, the opening is significantly smaller; At the same time, Xiaowei's aortic annulus diameter is only 11 mm (19-20 mm for normal peers), and the narrowest part of the left ventricular outflow tract is only 7 mm.
Blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta is blocked due to left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, forcing the heart to pump harder, and this extra effort causes the muscles of the left ventricle to gradually thicken centripetally in response to the higher load.
In simple terms, there is only one slit left in the left ventricle. As for the cause of Xiaowei's syncope, Ernst & Young said, it may be caused by left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and left ventricular myocardial hypertrophy.
Time is running out for this child. Ernst & Young said that for a child who is in such a critical condition and may die suddenly at any time, surgery as soon as possible is the only way out. However, surgery is fraught with challenges, such as the possibility of cardiac arrest due to the stimulation of anesthesia and surgical thoracotomy; During the operation, the child needs to undergo the Konno Rastan procedure (aortic ventricloplasty), which is a complex operation that requires an enlarged reconstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract, the surgical incision extends from the aortic valve to the middle of the ventricular septum, and there is an important conduction system and coronary artery around the incision, and if you accidentally damage either of them, the consequences can be very serious.
On January 17, Ernst & Young successfully performed the operation for Xiaowei, which lasted more than 6 hours. At present, the child has been discharged from the hospital.