Acyanotic heart defect

Associate Editor-In-Chief: Keri Shafer, M.D. [mailto:kshafer@bidmc.harvard.edu]

Overview
Acyanotic heart defects comprise approximately 75% of all congenital heart defects. This contains any heart defect of a group of structural effects. It can be subdivided into two groups depending on whether there is shunting of the blood from the left vasculature to the right (left to right shunt) or no shunting at all.

Left to right shunting heart defects include ventricular septal defect or VSD (30% of all congenital heart defects), persistent ductus arteriosus or PDA, atrial septal defect or ASD, and atrioventricular septal defect or AVSD.

Acyanotic heart defects without shunting include pulmonary stenosis, a narrowing of the pulmonary valve, aortic stenosis and coarctation of the aorta.