Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Child Is Having Prominent Jugular Pulse. What Is The Disease Called?
Posted on
Sun, 21 Apr 2013
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Sun, 21 Apr 2013
Answered on
Thu, 9 May 2013
Last reviewed on
Question : My 5 year old sons external jugular veins often pulse along the length of his neck. It is not carotid pulse but is definitely the external jugulars. They clearly become prominent and the pulse becomes extremely noticeable on the vessel itself. There are no symptoms of note along with this.
Hi,
Welcome to HCM!
A prominent jugular pulse is indicative of some pressure changes in the right side of heart.
Sometimes you may see them in abnormal heart rate conditions.
Did he have a clinical examination by a pediatrician so far ?
If your son is otherwise normal and has no respiratory problems like wheezing,etc,then may be it can be ignored.
Good luck
God bless
Dr Uma
Welcome to HCM!
A prominent jugular pulse is indicative of some pressure changes in the right side of heart.
Sometimes you may see them in abnormal heart rate conditions.
Did he have a clinical examination by a pediatrician so far ?
If your son is otherwise normal and has no respiratory problems like wheezing,etc,then may be it can be ignored.
Good luck
God bless
Dr Uma
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
He has seen a pediatric cardiologist about 1 year ago because he had an episode of hypoglycemia where he was complaining of chest pains and had palpitations and tachycardia. His cardiology exam revealed nothing abnormal. He had an electrocardiogram and echo-cardiogram done. The jugular pulse is something new that I noticed for a couple of weeks now. It is not the visual pulsation from the XXXXXXX jugular that you can see when you turn your head 45 degrees near the collarbone. This pulsing is actually the entire vessel. It rises and falls.
Hi,
Great that the cardiology exam and echo were normal - that rules out the group of congenital cardiac anomalies .
what you describe looks more like transmitted pulsations .
External jugular vein has 2 valves and sometimes the portion between the 2 valves may be dilated. It is not in direct continuity with the superior vena cava XXXXXXX jugular pulsations are more reliable( to indicate some problem in the rat side of heart) because of the direct line of continuity.
However I suggest that you show the child to the pediatrician or cardiologist so that direct examination and evaluation can be done and your doubts clarified.
Good luck
Dr Uma
Great that the cardiology exam and echo were normal - that rules out the group of congenital cardiac anomalies .
what you describe looks more like transmitted pulsations .
External jugular vein has 2 valves and sometimes the portion between the 2 valves may be dilated. It is not in direct continuity with the superior vena cava XXXXXXX jugular pulsations are more reliable( to indicate some problem in the rat side of heart) because of the direct line of continuity.
However I suggest that you show the child to the pediatrician or cardiologist so that direct examination and evaluation can be done and your doubts clarified.
Good luck
Dr Uma
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
