What Are the Different Types of Congenital Heart Defect?
Congenital heart defects can be classified into several categories. This helps understand the problems the baby will experience.
Too Much Blood Passes through Lungs
These defects allow oxygen-rich (red) blood that should be traveling to the body to recirculate through the lungs. This causes increased pressure and stress in the lungs. Examples are:
Too Little Blood Passes through Lungs
These defects allow blood that has not been to the lungs to pick up oxygen to travel to the body. This is called oxygen-poor blood. The body does not get enough oxygen with these heart problems. The baby will be cyanotic, or "blue." Examples are:
Too Little Blood Travels to Body
These defects are a result of underdeveloped chambers of the heart or blockages in blood vessels. This stops the right amount of blood from getting to the body to meet its needs. Examples are:
Combination of Defects
Sometimes, there will be a combination of several heart defects. This makes a more complex problem that can fall into several categories.
What Causes a Congenital Heart Defect?
Most congenital heart defects have no known cause. Mothers (and fathers) often wonder if something they did during the pregnancy caused the heart problem. This is rarely the case.
Some congenital heart defects do occur more often in families. This shows that there may be a genetic link.
This is usually not the cause of most types of congenital heart defects. Some congenital heart defects occur if the mother had a certain disease while pregnant (like rubella) or was taking certain medicines (like anti-seizure medicines).
In most cases, there is no specific reason as to why the heart defect occurred.
