Carapace heart is a diagnosis officially called pericarditis in medicine. This is a disease in which the pericardial sac primarily suffers, that is, the tissue that covers the main organ of the human body from the outside. The cause of such a problem is more often in infection, the consequences of a heart attack or rheumatism. Pericarditis is characterized by pain that is activated during inspiration, as well as cough, weakness.
General view
Carapace heart is often accompanied by sweating of liquid volumes generated between sheets of tissue. With this form of the disease, a person suffers from pronounced shortness of breath. The form is considered extremely dangerous, as it provokes purulent processes and can cause tamponade, that is, a condition when blood vessels, cardiac muscle tissue are transferred by volumes of accumulated fluid. When this form is detected, often the only way of treatment is urgent surgery.
Shell heart is a disease associated with inflammatory processes caused by other he alth problems. Often, pericarditis indicates cardiac inflammation, an infectious agent, or systemicinflammatory processes. Pathology can develop in violation of the functionality of any organ or as a consequence of an injury.
Curious Moments
Despite the fact that shelled heart is usually provoked by various causes, it is this disease that is often the most important for doctors, while other features of a person's he alth condition are only secondary, since they are less dangerous. It is known that in about 6% of patients with pericarditis, the disease was determined only posthumously. Such a pathology can overtake at any age, although the risk group is adults and the elderly. Among the female half of the world's population, the problem occurs more frequently than among the opposite sex.
Often, pericarditis affects the serous membrane of the main organ of our body. In such a situation, a serous form is diagnosed, and the tissues become permeable to blood, and the vessels through which it flows expand. Leukocytes penetrate into the nearest areas, fibrin is deposited, adhesions, scars are formed, and pericardial sheets accumulate calcium. All this is accompanied by an increase in pressure on the heart and leads to a rather serious condition of the patient.
Where did the trouble come from?
Regarding the armored heart, the causes of pathology are currently divided into two groups: infection and aseptic path of the disease. Most often, pathology is provoked by tuberculosis, rheumatism. In the first variant, cases of the movement of an infectious agent from the lungs along the streams with lymph to different tissues of the body are known. It maycause damage to the heart. The disease is somewhat similar to allergies, while the process is infectious.
Rheumatism is such a reason for the formation of the armored mesh of the heart, when two tissue layers simultaneously suffer at once: the myocardium and endocardium.
When the danger is greater?
Shell heart is a disease provoked by a variety of factors, but doctors have identified several of them that significantly increase the likelihood of developing pathology. First of all it is necessary to mention infections. Dangerous are measles, influenza, as well as various bacteria that can cause tonsillitis, scarlet fever, associated with tuberculosis. Often, pericarditis is observed when blood is infected, infected with parasites, fungi. Inflammation can spread to the pericardium from nearby areas. Such a danger is associated with pneumonia, endocarditis, pleurisy. The agent enters the pericardium through lymph or blood.
Can be found on x-ray with a shelled heart in an allergic reaction associated with medications, as well as in serum disease. The likelihood of such a pathology is higher in people suffering from heart disease, injuries to this organ, malignant neoplasms, and metabolic problems. Especially dangerous are toxic components, the production of which is associated with gout, uremia.
What to look out for?
Shell-like heart is a condition that often accompanies radiation injuries, so people who have been exposed to radiation should be especially attentive to the conditiontheir he alth in general, the heart muscle in particular. An increased risk is hidden by malformations of the heart membrane, including diverticula, cysts.
Also, people suffering from connective tissue diseases belong to the risk group. This is the rheumatism already mentioned above, arthritis of a similar nature, as well as lupus in a systemic form. There are many cases of shelled heart in people suffering from blood flow disorders, a tendency to edema, since these conditions provoke the accumulation of fluid in the sheets of the pericardium.
Disease: what happens?
Carapace heart is a collective concept that includes several subtypes of pathology. The classical division involves the diagnosis of primary, secondary forms associated with lesions of the lungs, heart tissues, other internal systems and organs. In some patients, problems are diagnosed in a limited form, when only the cardiac base is covered, in others a partial form is detected. There is a possibility of a general development of pericarditis, when the entire pericardium is completely involved in negative processes.
The clinical picture allows us to talk about a chronic or acute form of the disease. Especially dangerous are acute options that last up to six months. They develop rapidly, differ in pronounced symptoms.
About varieties
As can be seen from the photos presented in abundance on the World Wide Web, the armored heart is often found in fibrinous form. Pathology is provoked by overflow of blood of the heart membrane. Fibrin sweats out in the cavitypericardium, but fluids in the study of the organ are found in a fairly small amount.
Exudative form of pericarditis is associated with the accumulation of rather large fluid volumes. Allocate a hemorrhagic form associated with scurvy, tuberculosis, which caused inflammation in the heart muscle. Fibrinous serous - such a form when the discharge is mixed, plastic and liquid. If a pathology is detected at an early stage, when a small amount of secretions has accumulated, with the correct choice of a treatment program, there is an option for complete resorption of the contents of the cavity.
What else?
Carapaceous heart may be purulent, associated with tamponade, or develop in the absence of such. They say about tamponade when fluid accumulates in the pericardial cavity, leading to an increase in pressure in the pericardial fissure. This disrupts the functionality of the heart muscle.
Chronic course
Such forms are slowly progressing, lasting more than half a year. It is the persons who have been diagnosed with such a pathology who most often think about whether the armored heart is being treated. Indeed, the disease proceeds slowly and rather severely, and the peculiarities of its therapy are such that it is not easy to endure treatment.
The exudative form and the adhesive form are distinguished. The second is usually caused by previously transferred pericarditis, when the inflammation becomes productive, associated with the formation of scar tissue. The sheets of the heart membrane stick together, solder to each other or to nearby tissues. With adhesive formsometimes the symptoms of a shell heart are almost imperceptible, since blood circulation is not disturbed. However, such situations are not uncommon when the activity of the heart muscle suffers significantly from the pathological process. Calcium s alts can accumulate in altered tissues, sometimes extracardiac adhesions are fixed.
Continuing the theme
In some patients, pericarditis is fixed in a constructive form. With such a flow, the sheets grow into fibrous tissues, become places of calcium deposition. The heart membrane thickens, the chambers of the organ can be filled with blood only to a limited extent. This leads to stagnation of fluid in the veins.
Often the chronic form develops according to the principle of pearl mussel. This is most often associated with tuberculosis as the primary source of the inflammatory agent. Inflammatory granulomas spread throughout the serous membrane of the heart.
Symptoms of the disease
Pericarditis in different cases is manifested by a variety of symptoms, depending not only on the form, but also on the stage of the disease. Much is determined by what kind of liquid accumulates in the cavity, how quickly free volumes are filled, how actively adhesions are formed. The acute form is more often associated with a dry subtype of the disease, which changes its manifestations over time due to the accumulation of fluid.
Dry pericarditis can be suspected by pain in the heart, noise. The pain syndrome is dull, as if pressing, the background is felt in the shoulders, neck, shoulder blade on the left. Pain is predominantly moderate, less often painful, similar to angina pectoris, but increasinggradually, lasting for hours or even days. With pericarditis, nitroglycerin does not benefit, and narcotic painkillers give only a short-term effect. Many complain of frequent heartbeat, shortness of breath, cough. The general condition of the person is poor, weakness is felt. Manifestations are similar to pleurisy in dry form. With a deep breath, the pain syndrome intensifies. Similar sensations accompany swallowing, coughing, changing body position. Feelings can be somewhat weakened if you sit, but when you lie on your back, the syndrome is activated. The patient breathes shallowly, often.
Effusion form: some features
It is possible to suspect a shell-like heart of this variety if you have already had dry pericarditis or a malignant neoplasm, tuberculosis, or an allergy has developed. The patient feels heart pain, in the chest, as if something were squeezing. Over time, blood flow is disturbed, shortness of breath, dysphagia, hiccups, and a feverish state appear. The face, neck swell, the chest in front too, the veins swell on the neck. The skin turns pale, the gaps between the ribs are smoothed.
What to do?
Treatment of shell heart at home is categorically impossible. The doctor determines the therapeutic course, focusing on the detected form of pathology. In acute pericarditis, the elimination of symptoms will be optimal, for which aspirin and other drugs that can stop the inflammatory process are prescribed. To relieve pain, analgesics are prescribed, potassium is additionally prescribed, medications that normalize metabolicprocesses.
The acute exudative form requires approximately the same approach with constant monitoring of the quality of blood flow. Regularly check the volume of effusion, monitor the patient's condition in order to notice signs of cardiac tamponade in time.
Alternative approach
If the disease is provoked by a bacterial infection, a purulent form is detected, you should undergo a course of treatment with antimicrobial drugs. They choose a specific program, having previously identified what the agents of infection are sensitive to. If pericarditis is provoked by tuberculosis, it is necessary to undergo six months of treatment (sometimes longer) with special tuberculosis remedies. Usually several items are combined at once (up to three). If a tumor is detected, an urgent injection of a special medication is required directly into the pericardium.
Secondary form
With this option, the armored heart is treated with glucocorticoids. Proper use of the drug provokes the resorption of exudate. Therapy shows the greatest effectiveness if the disease is provoked by allergies, systemic pathology.
If exudate accumulates very quickly, cardiac puncture is required to prevent tamponade. The doctor removes the accumulated volumes. Sometimes such an event is required if the resorption process is too slow (half a month or more). When examining a puncture, specialists can more accurately determine the primary cause of pericarditis.
