Tetralogy of Fallot

Tetralogy of Fallot is a rare, complex congenital heart defect, meaning that it is present at birth. It causes oxygen-poor blood and oxygen-rich blood to mix together, with both being pumped out of the heart and into the blood vessels. As a result, blood leaving the heart has less oxygen than is needed by the organs and tissues of the body, causing a condition called hypoxemia. Ongoing and long-term lack of oxygen causes cyanosis, a condition marked by a bluish color of the skin, lips, and membranes inside the nose and mouth.

Tetralogy of Fallot involves four heart defects: a ventricular septal defect, or a hole in the wall between the heart's two lower chambers; pulmonary stenosis, or the narrowing of the pulmonary valve (which carries blood from the heart to the lungs), causing it to not open fully; right ventricular hypertrophy, in which the muscle of the right ventricle is thicker than usual; and a defect in the aorta, the main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body. Doctors repair this defect with open-heart surgery, either soon after birth or later in infancy.

Tetralogy of Fallot is a rare, complex congenital heart defect, meaning that it is present at birth. It causes oxygen-poor blood and oxygen-rich blood to mix together, with both being pumped out of the heart and into the blood vessels. As a result, blood leaving the heart has less oxygen than is needed by the organs and tissues of the body, causing a condition called hypoxemia. Ongoing and long-term lack of oxygen causes cyanosis, a condition marked by a bluish color of the skin, lips, and membranes inside the nose and mouth.

Tetralogy of Fallot involves four heart defects: a ventricular septal defect, or a hole in the wall between the heart's two lower chambers; pulmonary stenosis, or the narrowing of the pulmonary valve (which carries blood from the heart to the lungs), causing it to not open fully; right ventricular hypertrophy, in which the muscle of the right ventricle is thicker than usual; and a defect in the aorta, the main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body. Doctors repair this defect with open-heart surgery, either soon after birth or later in infancy.