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Congenital Heart Defects - Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)
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| Normal Heart | 1. Oxygenated blood from the left ventricle shunts via the hole into the right ventricle. This volume load causes enlargement of both ventricles and the pulmonary artery, and exposes the right ventricle and pulmonary arteries to abnormally high pressures |
A ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a hole between the right and left pumping chambers of the heart.
The heart has four chambers: a right and left upper chamber called an atrium and a right and left lower chamber called a ventricle.
In the normal heart, the right and left chambers are completely separated from each other by a wall called a septum. The right atrium is separated from the left atrium by the atrial septum and the right ventricle is separated from the left ventricle by the ventricular septum.
It is normal for all infants to be born with a small hole between the two atria, which usually closes within the first few weeks of life.
