Alternate Names : Right-to-left cardiac shunt, Right-to-left circulatory shunt
Definition
Cyanotic heart disease is a heart defect, present at birth (congenital), that results in low blood oxygen levels. There may be more than one defect.
Overview, Causes, & Risk Factors
Normally, blood returns from the body and flows through the heart and lungs. It will then leave the heart with enough oxygen to supply the body’s tissues.
Heart defects can change the way blood flows through the heart and lungs. This abnormal blood flow (called right-to-left shunt) can result in too little oxygen in the blood moving through the rest of the body.
Cyanotic heart disease causes the child’s skin to look blue (cyanosis). This bluish color is most often seen on the lips, fingers, and toes, or during exercise. Some heart defects cause major problems immediately after birth. Others cause few, if any, problems until adulthood.
Congenital heart defects that may cause cyanosis include:
- Coarctation of the aorta
- Critical pulmonary valvular stenosis
- Ebstein’s anomaly
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
- Interrupted aortic arch
- Pulmonary valve atresia
- Pulmonic stenosis with an atrial or ventricular septal defect
- Some forms of total anomalous pulmonary venous return
- Tetralogy of Fallot
- Total anomalous pulmonary venous return
- Transposition of the great vessels
- Tricuspid atresia (a deformity of the tricuspid heart valve)
- Truncus arteriosus
Cyanotic heart diseases may be caused by:
- Chemical exposure
- Genetic and chromosomal syndromes, such as Down syndrome, trisomy 13, Turner syndrome, Marfan syndrome, Noonan syndrome, and Ellis-van Creveld syndrome
- Infections (such as rubella) during pregnancy
- Poorly controlled blood sugar levels in women who have diabetes during pregnancy
- Some prescription and over-the-counter medications and street drugs used during pregnancy
Cyanosis may also be caused by conditions other than congenital heart disease. Such conditions may include lung disease, abnormal forms of hemoglobin (the protein that carries oxygen through the blood), dehydration, and hypoglycemia.
Pictures & Images
Heart, section through the middle
The interior of the heart is composed of valves, chambers, and associated vessels.
Heart, front view
The external structures of the heart include the ventricles, atria, arteries and veins. Arteries carry blood away from the heart while veins carry blood into the heart. The vessels colored blue indicate the transport of blood with relatively low content of oxygen and high content of carbon dioxide. The vessels colored red indicate the transport of blood with relatively high content of oxygen and low content of carbon dioxide.
Cyanotic heart disease
Cyanotic heart disease is a congenital heart defect which results in low oxygen levels in the blood and causes the child’s lips, fingers, and toes to look blue (cyanosis).
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Cyanotic heart disease : Overview, Causes, & Risk Factors
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Cyanotic heart disease : Symptoms & Signs, Diagnosis & Tests
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Cyanotic heart disease : Treatment
Review Date : 10/12/2009
Reviewed By : Larry A. Weinrauch, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Outcomes Research, Watertown, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
