What are the signs of cyanosis?
Cyanosis is not a disease but a symptomit is the sign of a lack of blood oxygenation. “It translates into a coloringbluish skinin some places, preferentially at the extremities – hands, feet – and in certain causes, around the stuffy“describes the pediatrician. Cyanosis can be isolated or associated with other signs, such as difficulty breathing, fever, chest pain or general fatigue, depending on its origin.
Cyanosis can be peripheraland localized on the extremities of the body – feet, hands, fingers and toes – or central and touch the whole body.
Why does the blood turn black?
The bluish coloring of the skin and mucous membranes appears when the perfusion of the peripheral organs – and therefore of the skin – with oxygenated blood is insufficient.
Dr. El Harrif “Oxygen gives this red color to hemoglobin, when the blood is deprived of it, its color darkens to draw on brown/black”
“Through the skin, this brown/black color appears blue, as is the case with veins, in which the circulating blood is deoxygenated in a normal way, and which therefore normally appear blue”, describes the pediatrician.
Why a cyanotic child?
Cyanosis is a clinical symptom, which can have many causes. Unless it is localized only on the lips and the nails in the event of exposure to the cold, it is advisable to take seriously. “Having oxygen-desaturated blood in the arteries is always severethe next stage being the hypoxemic coma which can lead to death”, insists the pediatrician, for whom this symptom should always lead to urgent consultation. Here are the different possible causes of cyanosis in babies.
A congenital disease
The causes can be either a “connection” fault in the heart, which causes normally venous (deoxygenated) blood to end up in the arteries, and this is particularly the case in the heart defects of the newborn.
Respiratory impairment
The cyanosis of the baby can be linked to a respiratory attack. “A lung problem for example, when they can no longer carry out their work of hematosis, that is to say to oxygenate the arterial blood”, explains Dr. El Harrif. The causes are then those of severe respiratory failure: bronchiolitis, crisis of‘asthmalung infection or even pneumothorax…
Blue feet, nails and hands: transient cyanosis of the extremities due to infant malaise
When a child feels unwell – says infant malaise – as may be the case during a heavy regurgitation, he may be deprived of oxygen for a few moments and this causes the appearance of bluish hands and feet. In the absence of associated signs of severity, this cyanosis is transient and the child quickly recovers his breathing and his colors. “However, any discomfort of the infant, even recovered, must be the subject of a going to the emergency room”, recommends the pediatrician.
Cyanotic lips: when the mouth turns blue-violet in the bath
It often happens that the baby’s lips turn blue or even purple during a exposure to cold or that baby stays a little too long in a bath costs. In some cases, the fingernails, fingers and toes also turn blue. Don’t panic, as long as it’s transient and that they return to their natural color when baby is warmed up, there is no need to worry.
Cyanosis during childbirth: why the newborn can be cyanotic from birth?
When cyanosis affects the newborn, we speak of neonatal cyanosis, congenital or even “blue disease“. “In the vast majority of cases, it translates a problem at the level ofu heart, often a malformation which can be of several natures”, explains the pediatrician.
What is the abnormality in the heart of a child with blue disease?
If there is no abnormality, the heart is divided into two parts: right and left. The left side sends oxygenated blood from the lungs to the organs through the arterial system. The organs consume the oxygen, and the blood returns deoxygenated in the right heart to return to the lungs. “Certain malformations cause the deoxygenated blood to go totally or partially to the organs instead of going to the lungs to be recharged with oxygen”, explains Dr. El Harrif.
In some cases, for example, the aorta artery that sends blood from the left heart to the organs is abnormally connected to the right heart, and therefore sends oxygen-deprived blood to the organs.
“There can also be communications between the right heart and the left heart which cause the two types of blood to mix”, adds the pediatrician.
All these heart defects are grouped together under the term cyanotic heart disease. “They are serious and are therefore subject to systematic maternity screening. The treatment is most often surgical in the first days of life”, indicates Dr. El Harrif.
To treat cyanosis, it is necessary to have previously identified the cause and therefore to have made a diagnosis.
- If the cyanosis is only due to a cooling baby’s temperature: it must be quickly covered to warm it up.
- In the case of the congenital cyanosisthe treatment is usually a curative surgery.
- “In the respiratory failurecyanosis is accompanied by respiratory discomfort, sweating, disturbances of consciousness, which mean that cyanosis is only the sign of seriousness of a pre-existing pathology”, explains the pediatrician. “All these symptoms which accompany cyanosis are more than enough to consult before cyanosis appears”, explains Dr El Harrif.
If the child does not yet benefit from medical care, the first emergency measures are:
- of the’lengthen in a semi-sitting position,
- Above all, do not overstimulate it to avoid overconsumption of oxygen,
- and of course to call 15.