Acyanotic congenital heart disease

Last revised by Tom Foster on 8 Oct 2018

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Foster T, Sharma R, et al. Acyanotic congenital heart disease. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 05 Dec 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-8471

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-8471

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/8471

rID:

8471

Article created:

3 Feb 2010, Frank Gaillard ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

8 Oct 2018, Tom Foster ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Tom Foster had no recorded disclosures.

View Tom Foster's current disclosures

Revisions:

6 times, by 6 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Paediatrics, Cardiac

Tags:

heart, refs

Synonyms:

Congenital heart disease - acyanotic

Acyanotic congenital heart disease comprises numerous etiologies, which can be divided into those with increased pulmonary vascularity (pulmonary plethora) and those with normal vascularity:

increased pulmonary vascularity
normal pulmonary vascularity
- small shunts (see above)
- aortic valve stenosis
- aortic coarctation
- pulmonary stenosis

Note that certain congenital defects may initially cause acyanotic congenital heart disease and later cyanotic congenital heart disease. Conditions with a left-to-right shunt (e.g. VSD, ASD) may initially be acyanotic but over time can cause maladaptive changes in the right ventricle and pulmonary vasculature, leading to pulmonary hypertension and Eisenmenger syndrome. When this occurs, the shunt is reversed and deoxygenated blood enters the systemic circulation.