The human heart is a hard working, miraculous organ. But, sometimes babies are born with life threatening heart defects that require cardiac testing, treatment, and often heart surgery.
One particular condition is Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return, or T.A.P.V.R. This condition is when the pulmonary veins are connected to the wrong side of the heart.
When born with this condition, children have a blue tint to their skin, lips, gums, and areas around the eyes and mouth caused by low levels of oxygen in their blood.
In this defect the vessels that bring oxygen-rich blood back to the heart from the lungs are wrongly connected the left atrium. Blood drains the right atrium through an arboreal vessel.
An atrail septal defect(ASD) usually accompanies this conditional allowing blood to flow from the right atrium to the left atrium. Without an ASD, this condition is fatal, because there is no oxygen-rich blood returning from the heart to be circulated to the body.
Symptoms - children with TAPVR are usually cyanotic , have trouble breathing and have heart murmur. Chest x-rays, echocardiograms, or a cardiac cauterization may be done to diagnose the condition.
Treatment - Surgery is done very shortly after birth to improve this condition. This involves connecting the pulmonary veins to the left atrium, and closing the ASD.
One particular condition is Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return, or T.A.P.V.R. This condition is when the pulmonary veins are connected to the wrong side of the heart.
When born with this condition, children have a blue tint to their skin, lips, gums, and areas around the eyes and mouth caused by low levels of oxygen in their blood.
In this defect the vessels that bring oxygen-rich blood back to the heart from the lungs are wrongly connected the left atrium. Blood drains the right atrium through an arboreal vessel.
An atrail septal defect(ASD) usually accompanies this conditional allowing blood to flow from the right atrium to the left atrium. Without an ASD, this condition is fatal, because there is no oxygen-rich blood returning from the heart to be circulated to the body.
Symptoms - children with TAPVR are usually cyanotic , have trouble breathing and have heart murmur. Chest x-rays, echocardiograms, or a cardiac cauterization may be done to diagnose the condition.
Treatment - Surgery is done very shortly after birth to improve this condition. This involves connecting the pulmonary veins to the left atrium, and closing the ASD.
