Complete Information on Eisenmenger syndrome with Treatment and Prevention

by Alicia Stock

Eisenmenger syndrome occurs in patients with big inborn cardiac or surgically created extracardiac left-to-right shunts. These shunts initially induce increased pulmonary blood flowing. People who have Eisenmenger's syndrome are normally born with a big hole in the eye. The most common situation is a hole between the two pumping chambers, called a ventricular septal defect. Usually, Eisenmenger syndrome develops while individuals with heart defects are still children, but it may occur in adolescence or young adulthood. A number of congenital heart defects can cause Eisenmenger's syndrome, including atrial septal defects, ventricular septal defects, patent ductus arteriosus, and more complex types of acyanotic heart disease. Eisenmenger syndrome usually develops before puberty but may develop in adolescence and early adulthood.

Eisenmenger's syndrome primarily affects adolescents and adults with sure inborn eye defects that are repaired later or that are never repaired. Because the pressures within the left position of the eye are usually greater than those within the correct position of the eye, a beginning between the left and correct position of the eye will induce blood to flood from the left position of the eye into the correct position. The symptoms of Eisenmenger's syndrome may resemble other medical conditions or heart problems. A cardiac catheterization is an invasive procedure that gives very detailed information about the structures inside the heart. Eisenmenger syndrome specifically refers to the combination of pulmonary hypertension and right-to-left shunting of the blood within the heart. Eisenmenger's syndrome in rare instances may also develop with an atrial septal defect.

Symptoms related specifically to pulmonary hypertension result from the inability to increase pulmonary blood flow in response to physiological stress. A person with Eisenmenger's syndrome is paradoxically subject to the possibility of both uncontrolled bleeding due to damaged capillaries and high pressure, and random clots due to hyperviscosity and stasis of blood. The syndrome affects both males and females. Eventually, due to increased resistance, pulmonary pressures may increase sufficiently to cause a reversal of blood flow, so blood begins to travel from the right side of the heart to the left side, and the body is supplied with deoxygenated blood, leading to cyanosis and resultant organ damage. Eisenmenger syndrome is first suspected when an individual begins to show symptoms of pulmonary hypertension.

In early childhood, surgical intervention can repair the heart defect, preventing most of the pathogenesis of Eisenmenger's syndrome. Avoid very hot or humid conditions, which may exacerbate vasodilation, causing syncope and increased right-to-left shunting. If treatment has not taken place, heart-lung transplant is required to fully treat the syndrome. If this option is not available, treatment is mostly palliative, using anticoagulants, pulmonary vasodilators such as bosentan, antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent endocarditis, phlebotomy to treat polycythemia, and maintaining proper fluid balance. It is important to eat a nutritious diet and avoid alcohol and salt. Overexertion and smoking also should be avoided. Some patients might benefit from nocturnal supplementation, although it is most useful as a bridge to heart-lung transplant.

Stem cells - The Master Cells of Human Body

by Melvin Ngiam

The Stem cells are predominantly called the "master cells" of the human body because of their ability to create all other tissues, organs, and systems in the body. The stem cells are the building blocks of your blood and immune system. They are the factory of the blood system and continually make new copies of themselves and produce cells that make every other type of blood --Red blood Cells, White Blood Cells and Platelets. There are basically three sources where stem cells can be easily found .

1) Bone Marrow

2) Peripheral Blood and

3) Umbilical Cord Blood

Various researches done in this field suggest that stem cells obtained from cord blood are relatively more advantages over those retrieved from bone marrow or peripheral blood because they are immunologic ally "younger" and appear to be more versatile. They also demonstrate an important characteristic with embryonic stem cells and are able to differentiate into nearly all cell types in the body. Secondly it is easy to get stem cells from cord blood because they are readily obtained from the placenta at the time of delivery. Harvesting stem cells from bone marrow requires a surgical procedure, performed under general anesthesia and can cause post-operative pain or pose a small risk to the donor.

The promise of using stem cells for medical treatments have been the focus of researches various projects that are showing encouraging results.

• Cord blood stem cells help in the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
• They have also proven their ability in the treatments for heart disease, allowing patients to essentially "grow their own bypass."
• Stem cells have the potential to help cure many life-threatening ailments like leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, anemia, inherited disorders and all other deficiencies of the immune system.
• Lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, liver disorders and heart ailments can also be treated with stem cells.

On the other hand a wider range of recipients can benefit from cord blood stem cells. These can be stored and transplanted back into the donor, to a family member or to an unrelated recipient. For a bone marrow transplantation, there must be a nearly perfect match of certain tissue proteins between the donor and the recipient. When stem cells from cord blood are used, the donor cells appear more likely to "take" or engraft, even when there are partial tissue mismatches.

Certain complications like graft versus host disease (GVHD), in which donor cells can attack the recipient's tissues, are less likely to occur with cord blood than with bone marrow. This may be because cord blood has a muted immune system and certain cells, usually active in an immune reaction, are not yet educated to attack the recipient. A research done in this field revealed that children who received a cord blood transplant from a closely matched sibling were 59 percent less likely to develop GVHD than children who received a bone marrow transplant from a closely matched sibling.

Cord blood also is less likely to contain certain infectious agents, like some viruses, that can pose a risk to transplant recipients .In addition, cord blood may have a greater ability to generate new blood cells than bone marrow. Ounce for ounce, there are nearly 10 times as many blood-producing cells in cord blood. This fact suggests that a smaller number of cord blood cells are needed for a successful transplantation.

With the rapid advancement in Medical Science there has also been a corresponding development in the number of preserved cord blood units being used in regenerative medicine applications. If expectant parents store their baby's cord blood in a family bank, the stem cells are immediately available for use in medical treatments, including future therapies to repair or replace damaged heart tissues. As a result, an infant's cord blood could prove to be a life-saving treatment option if that child is born with a congenital heart defect, or later in life following a sudden and serious heart attack. In regenerative medicine, the latest scientific evidence suggests that using one's own stem cells likely delivers more favorable outcomes.