Aneurysm of sinus of valsalva pathophysiology


 * Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, M.B.B.S.[mailto:psingh@perfuse.org]; Assistant Editor(s)-In-Chief: Kristin Feeney, B.S.[mailto:kfeeney@perfuse.org]

Overview
In a normal heart, the typical path of blood flow is to shunt from right-to-left allowing for blood to leave the deoxygenated right system and become oxygenated in the left system. In patients with an aneurysm of the sinus of valsalva, the typical path of blood flow is disrupted by the presence of the aneurysm. This can result in blood shunting from left-to-right. The severity of circulatory complications depends largely on the size of the aneurysm and any accompanying defects. The larger the defect, the greater the amount of mixing between deoxygenated and oxygenated blood.

Pathophysiology
Image courtesy of Professor Peter Anderson DVM PhD and published with permission © PEIR, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Pathology