Which disease is a symptom of Musset?

Once, in the 19th century, during dinner, the brother of the famous French poet and playwright A. Musset drew attention to the fact that Alfred constantly strangely shakes his head. An agitated relative informed him of this, but he only brushed it aside. And in vain! Musset's symptom continued its development - the poet's health worsened, and soon at the age of 47 he died. As it turned out later, the symptom named by him was a bright sign of aortic valve insufficiency.

Because of what the symptom de Musset arises

Insufficiency of the aortic valve is one of the heart defects in which the valves of the largest blood vessel can not block the reverse movement of blood, and some of it gets back into the left ventricle of the heart, causing a lack of blood volume in the general circulation. To compensate for this, the heart is forced to work hard, because of which over time its muscles become denser, and the size of the organ becomes noticeably larger.

Symptom Musset - shaking his head in time with heart beats - refers to one of the most common and, by the way, in men is more common than in women. It is associated with increased stress on the cardiac muscle, forced to push into the aorta each time a larger volume of blood than in the norm, because of which its tremors begin to be felt by the patient, especially when lying down.

To this join:

• Tachycardia, which appears as a protective reaction to reduce the time between cardiac contractions and, as a consequence, to reduce the possibility of reverse movement of blood;
• Pressing pressure behind the sternum, appearing due to blood flow disturbance;
• Dizziness and fainting, provoked by a violation of blood circulation and, accordingly, brain oxygen supply;
• As well as the general state of weakness.

Causes of aortic insufficiency

Insufficiency of the aortic valve and the accompanying Musset symptom can be both congenital (genetically or inherited due to unfavorable fetal development conditions), and acquired (the valve changes as a result of certain diseases).

• Most often, the cause of the pathology is rheumatism - an inflammatory disease that affects various systems and organs, including the heart.
• A fairly common cause is atherosclerosis of the aorta (deposition on its walls of a fat-like substance - cholesterol).
• Aortic aneurysms and heart muscle defects.
• Presence of chronic syphilis. This, by the way, provoked in due time the fateful symptom of Alfred Musset (after 5 years after infection, nodules are formed in the organs that contain pale treponema, they appear in the aorta, causing damage to the valve and vessel walls).

Methods of diagnosis and treatment

In the presence of the above signs, the patient should always consult a cardiologist. At the examination, noises are heard over the aorta, which causes a reverse flow of blood, and as a result of the roentgenogram, an increase in the left ventricle of the heart is seen. Echocardiography is performed to clarify the changes in the structure of the aortic valve and the amount of ejected blood.

Treatment is carried out depending on the causes that caused the pathology. In severe cases, the patient is referred for surgery, and with a slow progression of the disease, he is prescribed medication. The existing Musset symptom, dyspnoea and tachycardia also imply a restriction of physical exertion, careful observance of the regime of the day and nutrition.