Summary NURSING 105 - Peds Exam 3 Study Guide.

NURSING 105 - Peds Exam 3 Study Guide/NURSING 105 - Peds Exam 3 Study Guide. Review on Cardiac Dysfunction • congestive heart failure (CHF) is a term used by cardiologists to describe a patient whose heart does not pump enough blood out to the rest of the body to meet the body's demand for energy. o A patent ductus arteriosus is a blood vessel between the aorta and main pulmonary artery that all babies require in fetal life but which usually closes within the first couple of days of life. • If it is large and does not close, the baby will have an excessive amount of blood flow to the lungs. This is a very common problem in premature infants. o Another problem that leads to excessive blood flow to the lungs is a large ventricular septal defect (VSD)or a hole between the two lower pumping chambers of the heart. These will cause congestive heart failure only if the hole is big enough to allow so much extra blood flow to the lungs that the heart has to work a lot harder to pump blood out to the body. o Some babies are born with other connections between the two main arteries leaving the heart, i.e., aortopulmonary window or truncus arteriosus. These babies are also at risk for having too much blood flow to the lungs.