Question

Bruce had been admitted to your ward after complaining of chest pain.

He has a known VSD.

What is this?

You must check heart sounds as part of his admission procedure. How will you do this?

Answer 1

Ventricular Septal defect (VSD) is a presence of hole between the ventricles or the lower chamber of the heart . It is usually congenital deformity present at the birth.

There is mixing up of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood as a result of this defect which results in bluish discoloration of skin, fatigue , palpitations. Usually, the hole gets closed by itself . If not , surgery is required to close the hole.

Assessment of heart sounds :

Auscultation of the heart is done . Stethoscope is placed at the second intercoastal border towards left. Incase of VSD, murmur is heard. A holosystolic murmur is heard . If it is early systolic murmur , it indicates small hole or closing VSD.

Thank you.