Part II Examination of the Newborn and Older Child
4 Examination of the Older Child
4.9 Cardiovascular System Examination
4.9.1 General Physical Examination
• General inspection
– Look at the child and note whether he/she is well, irritable, lethargic, uncon-scious, dyspneic, etc.
– Note whether the child takes a special position, e.g., squatting position in older children with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). This position can decrease the amount of right-to-left shunting, and as a result, it increases systemic oxygen saturation.
• Skin
– Skin rash (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Kawasaki disease) – Subcutaneous nodules, as in rheumatic fever.
– Look for skin manifestations of syndromes that may be associated with car-diac conditions (e.g., Down syndrome or Turner syndrome).
• Palpation – Apex beat – Heaves – Thrills
– Palpable heart sounds
• Percussion
• Auscultation
– Auscultate carefully over the four valve areas (see Fig. 4.13) and listen to:
First and second heart sounds
Added sounds, such as gallop rhythm in heart failure and ejection click in aortic stenosis
Murmurs
4 Examination of the Older Child
• Face
– Dysmorphic features: Cardiac disorders are more common in children with certain syndromes, for example:
Atrial septal defect (ASD) and ventricular septal defect (VSD) are common in children with Down syndrome.
Coarctation of the aorta is more common in children with Turner syndrome.
Aortic incompetence is seen more in those with Marfan syndrome [34].
– Cyanosis
Examine the tongue, mucosa of the mouth, conjunctivae, skin, and lips for central cyanosis (see Box 4.6).
– Pallor, polycythemia, and jaundice
Pallor: Examine for pallor in the conjunctivae, oral mucosa, and lips. It usu-ally indicates the presence of anemia, which can cause tachycardia or mur-mur; it also may point to poor peripheral perfusion.
• Cyanosis is a bluish discoloration of the skin, mucous membranes, or nail beds.
• Involvement of the mucous membrane is very important in differentiation between central and peripheral cyanosis.
• Central cyanosis: Affects the oral mucosa, tongue, conjunctivae, skin, and lips. Its presence is always abnormal and may occur due to a variety of car-diac, pulmonary, and neurological diseases (e.g., hypoventilation); it may also occur in conditions of abnormal hemoglobin or acute methemoglobinemia.
• Peripheral cyanosis: Affects the skin and lips but spares the oral mucosa, tongue, and conjunctivae. The distal extremities, or sometimes the circumoral or periorbital areas, and ears are typically affected. This type of cyanosis hap-pens in the presence of normal systemic arterial saturation and usually occurs after exposure to cold or due to inadequate peripheral circulation.
• Acrocyanosis: Refers to the peripheral cyanosis of the hands and feet, and around the mouth, caused by peripheral vasoconstriction and increased tissue oxygen extraction; it most commonly presents in the first 24 h of life as a normal observation.
• Differential cyanosis is a bluish discoloration of the lower limbs only, while the upper limbs remain pink. It points to right-to-left shunting across a ductus arteriosus in association with an interrupted aortic arch or coarctation of the aorta.
• Reverse differential cyanosis is blueness of the upper limbs, while the lower limbs are pink; it occurs in cases of transposition of the great arteries (TGA) with coarctation of aorta [35].
Box 4.6: Cyanosis
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Polycythemia often occurs with cyanotic congenital heart diseases.
Jaundice may occur due to hemolysis caused by a prosthetic heart valve.
– Sweating
Sweating during feedings should raise the concern for congestive heart fail-ure, especially if it is associated with subcostal indrawing and rapid tired-ness [36].
– Oral hygiene and dental caries
Poor oral hygiene and dental caries may lead to bacteremia, resulting in infec-tive endocarditis.
• Hand
– Clubbing: clubbing of fingers and toes occurs in cyanotic congenital heart diseases after 6 months of age; it also can be seen in case of infective endocar-ditis. (See Table 4.7 and Box 4.3.)
– Other signs that may suggest infective endocarditis:
Splinter hemorrhages: tiny linear hemorrhages tend to run vertically under-neath the nail
Osler’s nodes: small, painful erythematous nodules found on the pads of the fingers and toes
Janeway’s lesions: small, non-tender erythematous maculopapular lesions on the palm or sole
– Cyanosis (peripheral)
Examine the nail beds for peripheral cyanosis, which may indicate inadequate peripheral circulation (see Box 4.6).
– Bony abnormalities, such as an absent thumb or absent radii, are associated with certain syndromes that may point to cardiac diseases [37].
• Pulses
– Assess the peripheral pulses in all four extremities:
Palpate brachial and radial pulses (see below).
Palpate femoral pulses to exclude coarctation of the aorta.
Method of Palpation
Brachial pulse (preferred for children younger than 3 years)
– To feel the brachial pulse, flex the child’s elbow partially, and use the first and second fingers (or the thumb) of your right hand, applied to the front of the elbow, just medial to the biceps tendon [36].
Radial pulse (preferred for older children)
– Palpate it, using the tips of your index and middle fingers, just lateral to the flexor carpi radialis tendon and proximal to the wrist on the thumb side.
– Assess for radio-radial delay by palpation of both radial pulses at the same time. By this method, you also can detect any difference in pulse volume [38].
Femoral pulse
– The child should lie flat on his/her back with a partially flexed knee; the hip should be abducted and externally rotated.
– Use the bulbs of your fingers to feel the femoral pulse just below the mid- inguinal point (the point which is located between the anterior superior iliac spine and the pubic symphysis).
4 Examination of the Older Child
– Routinely palpate the radial and femoral pulses at the same time to detect any delay or volume differences.
– A radio-femoral delay, or an absent or weak femoral pulse, may point to coarctation of the aorta [38].
By palpation of the right brachial pulse, assess the following:
Pulse rate: Count it over 30 s and multiply by 2 to find the beats per minute.
– Normal pulse rate: varies with the child’s age (see Table 4.5).
– Tachycardia: Sinus tachycardia may be seen in an anxious or feverish child.
– Bradycardia: may be seen in complete heart block, junior athletes, and certain medications (such as beta-blockers).
Rhythm
– Regular (e.g., respiratory sinus arrhythmia), which is common in young children – Regular irregularity (e.g., coupled extrasystoles)
– Irregular irregularity (e.g., atrial fibrillation, multiple extrasystoles) Character: refers to the shape or waveform of the arterial pulse; it may be:
– Normal character
– Collapsing pulse, as in patent ductus arteriosus or aortic incompetence – Slow rising pulse suggests left ventricular outflow tract obstruction
– Others: pulsus paradoxus, pulsus bisferiens, rapidly rising, ill-sustained, jerk, etc [37].
Volume (pulse pressure)
Pulse volume may be normal, small, large, or varying.
– Small volume occurs in heart failure, shock, or cardiac outflow abstraction.
– Large volume can be felt in anemia, fever, hyperthyroidism, aortic insuffi-ciency, carbon dioxide retention, or patent ductus arteriosus [20].
– Varying volume may be seen in extrasystoles, atrial fibrillation, or incomplete heart block.
• Respiratory rate
– Count the respiratory rate over 1 full minute. Tachypnea and respiratory dis-tress occur in many cardiac conditions (e.g., heart failure).
• Blood pressure
– Blood pressure should be measured in the arms and legs to exclude coarcta-tion of the aorta (see Sect. 4.6.4).
• Temperature
– Fever may indicate infection (e.g., viral myocarditis, rheumatic fever, naso-pharyngitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, etc.).
• Oxygen saturation
– Measure pre- and post-ductal oxygen saturations (see Chap. 3).
• Neck
– Jugular venous pulse
With the child reclining at 45°, inspect the neck for a prominent jugular venous pulsation, which suggests tricuspid incompetence, while cannon waves suggest a heart block.
– Cervical lymphadenopathy
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Significant cervical lymphadenopathy may occur in certain conditions with cardiac involvement (e.g., Kawasaki disease).
– Trachea
Palpate the trachea and look for any deviation.
• Capillary refill
– Apply blanching pressure with a finger or thumb on the skin of the child’s sternum (or a digit at the heart level) for 5 s, then release and watch for the color to return. Blush normally takes less than 2 s to return; if it takes longer, then poor peripheral perfusion or shock should be suspected [21].
• Abdomen
– Palpate and percuss the abdomen for hepatosplenomegaly; this may be a late sign of heart failure. The liver may be pushed downward in some respiratory conditions (e.g., bronchiolitis, pleural effusion, empyema, emphysema, etc.).
Therefore, measurement of the liver span is very important to differentiate an enlarged liver from a pushed-down liver.
– Enlargement of the spleen alone may occur in infective endocarditis.
– Examine for ascites if heart failure is suspected.
• Back and lower limbs
– Examine for edema (ankle, sacrum, and precordium).
Pitting peripheral edema is a late manifestation of congestive heart failure in children [36].
In infants, edema is usually seen periorbital and over the flanks, while in older children pedal edema occurs as well.
– Examine for arthritis and look for joint swelling and skeletal deformities, which may point to syndromes or diseases that are associated with cardiac conditions (e.g., Marfan syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or rheumatoid arthritis).
• Nervous system
– Note any involuntary movements and focal deficits.
• Nutritional status assessment and anthropometric measures
– Both heart failure and cyanotic congenital heart disease can lead to a failure to thrive. Hence, assessment of the nutritional status of the child, along with measurement of his/her growth parameters and plotting the readings on stan-dard percentile growth charts, is very important [39].