Your Heart and How it works
In order to understand heart surgery you must learn normal heart anatomy and how it works. While reading this guide please refer back to this section to help you understand you child's heart problem.
The heart has four chambers-two atria and two ventricles, and it has four valves-the tricuspid and pulmonary on the right side of the heart and the mitral and aortic on the left side of the heart.
blood circulates throughout the body and returns to the heart in the right atrium. It then passes through the tricuspid valve to get to the right ventricle and then through the pulmonary valve to get to the pulmonary artery, which takes the blood to the lungs. In the lungs the blood gets oxygenated and returns to the heart in the left atrium. It then passes through the mitral valve to the left ventricle. From there it is pumped out the aortic valve to the aorta, which carries the blood to the body.
When blood circulates abnormally because of a defect, mixing of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood occurs. This results in blood flow with a decreased amount of oxygen or cyanosis. Cyanosis is defined as blueness of the skin or nails. In mild forms children may look ruddy or dusky, whereas in severe cyanosis the child may look dark blue.
Structures
of the Heart
LV = Left Ventricle
RV = Right Ventricle
LA = Left Atrium
RA = Right Atrium
AS = Atrial Septum
VS = Ventricular Septum
Valves
1 = Tricuspid Valve
2 = Pulmonary Valve
3 = Mitral Valve
4 = Aortic Valve
Blood Vessels
Ao = Aorta
PA = Pulmonary Artery
SVC = Superior Vena Cava
IVC = Inferior Vena Cava