Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease comprises a wide spectrum of heart defects present at a person’s birth.

Types of congenital defect

• Hole in the heart
  

  This is the most common type of congenital defect. It may occur between the two atria (an atrial septal defect) or between the two ventricles (a ventricular septal defect). Both conditions typically present themselves in the form of heart murmurs, which are abnormal sounds produced by turbulence in blood flow through the heart.

  A ventricular septal defect is generally more serious than an atrial septal defect and, unless the hole in question is very tiny, must be repaired.

• Aortic stenosis
  

  In patients with aortic stenosis, the aortic valve (i.e. the valve which separates the left ventricle from the aorta) is unusually narrow. Therefore, the left ventricle has to work harder to pump blood through the narrowed valve. Where the constriction is severe, the supply of oxygenated blood to other parts of the body may be considerably reduced.

• Tetralogy of Fallot
  

  It is a condition arising from several different malformations of the heart, namely: the narrowing of the pulmonary valve (pulmonary stenosis); a hole in the wall between the ventricles (a ventricular septal defect); aorta “overriding” the hole between the ventricles; and a thickened right ventricular wall. As a result, the aorta receives blood from both the left and right ventricles.

  This means that the blood pumped out of the heart for distribution to other organs is a mixture of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, and not oxygenated blood alone.

  Infants with Tetralogy of Fallot usually has a bluish tinge on their skin, a symptom arising from an insufficient supply of oxygen-rich blood.