DORV, TAPVR, ps, TGA, single ventricle, single atrium
(See Normal Heart Image for comparison)
Click image to see download options from Flickr:
- Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV) [outlet=passage for exit, ventricles=lower chambers of the heart] – both vessels (aorta & pulmonary artery) carrying blood away from the heart come out of the right ventricle. (Normally the aorta carries oxygen-rich blood from the left ventricle and the pulmonary artery carries oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle).
- Pulmonary Stenosis [pulmonary=having to do with the lungs, stenosis=narrowing of a passage, ] – a narrowing of the pulmonary artery (which carries blood from the heart to the lungs) at or near the pulmonary valve.
- Infracardiac Total Anomalous Pulmonary Vein Return (TAPVR) [infra=below, cardiac=of the heart, anomalous=not normal, pulmonary=having to do with the lungs, vein=blood vessel, return=come back] – a structural defect where the pulmonary veins (which normally carry oxygen-rich blood from the lungs back to the left atrium of the heart) do not connect to the left atrium at all. Instead, the pulmonary veins connect to the Hepatic Vein (which brings oxygen-depleted blood from the liver back to the atrium of the heart). This causes oxygen-rich and oxygen-depleted blood to mix before being pumped out to the body. TAPVR often presents with pulmonary vein stenosis.
- Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) [transposition=switch the order, great arteries=the aorta & the pulmonary artery] – the positions of the great vessels are switched so that the aorta (which carries oxygen-rich blood to the body) is closer to the oxygen-poor blood AND the pulmonary artery (which carries oxygen-poor blood to the lungs) is closer to the oxygen-rich blood.
Please note: this heart has 1 atrium, 1 ventricle, and 1 valve connecting the atrium and ventricle. This is easier to visualize from a topview of the heart.
This is a cross section of the heart seen from the top looking down. A Normal heart looks like this:
(Click image to see download options from Flickr:)
The top portion of the atria have been erased to show the valves. The ventricles (not pictured) are located just behind the Tricuspid and Mitral valves.
A heart with a common Atrioventricular valve (or AV valve)/common Atrium/common ventricle looks like this:
(Click image to see download options from Flickr:)
The Tricuspid and Mitral valves attach to each other instead of the septal wall–there is no septal wall in this heart. Then you essentially have one combined valve (that doesn’t close all the way) instead of two valves that function properly. This creates a hole between the upper and lower chambers of the heart. Blood from all the chambers mix together. Blood leaving the heart (heading to the body AND heading to the lungs) contain an unhealthy mix of both oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood.
