deep dive

Overview: Types of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD)

Ages Prenatal - 24 Years

Have you or your child been diagnosed with a congenital heart disease (CHD)? Although we often talk about CHDs as if they were just one thing, in fact there are many types of possible CHDs. Understanding your unique diagnosis can help you to make treatment decisions, identify appropriate services, and predict outcomes.

3 min read

In this section

Types of Congenital Heart Diseases Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)Atrioventricular Septal Defect (AVSD)Coarctation of the Aorta (CoA)Ebstein’s Anomaly Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome Patent Ductus Arteriosis Pulmonary Valve Stenosis Pulmonary Vein Stenosis Tetralogy of Fallot Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR): Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA)Tricuspid Atresia Truncus Arteriosis Ventricular Septal Defect Unique Children, Unique Hearts You might also like:

Types of Congenital Heart Diseases

There are multiple types of congenital heart defects (CHDs). All CHDs affect how the heart is formed, and how blood flows in the body. Some CHDs are serious, or even life-threatening. Other CHDs are relatively minor and may not need to be treated. Keep reading to learn about some of the most common kinds of CHDs.

All CHDs affect how the heart is formed, and how blood flows in the body.

Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)

A hole in the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart. This hole means that more blood than usual goes to the person's lungs.

Atrioventricular Septal Defect (AVSD)

A hole in the center of the heart. It can affect all four chambers of the heart: top and bottom, left and right. When a person has AVSD, extra blood may flow to their lungs, and their blood may have less oxygen than it should.

Coarctation of the Aorta (CoA)

A narrowing of the major artery that brings blood to the body. It forces the heart to work very hard to pump blood through the body.

Ebstein’s Anomaly

A problem with the tricuspid valve between the two right chambers of the heart. The valve is in the wrong place and is not formed correctly, so it allows blood to flow backwards from the bottom to the top of the heart. Ebstein's anomaly can cause the heart to work harder to pump blood, and sometimes the heart grows larger.

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

The left side of the heart is very small and cannot pump blood effectively. The right side of the heart must pump blood to the lungs and through the body.

Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome

The right side of the heart is small or underdeveloped, and cannot pump blood effectively. This can cause low oxygen in a person's blood.

Patent Ductus Arteriosis

A hole between the two big arteries to and from the heart: the pulmonary artery (which goes to the lungs) and the aorta (which goes to the body and brain). It can cause blood to move the wrong way, and can make the heart muscle weak.

Pulmonary Valve Stenosis

A narrowing of the valve between the right side of the heart and the artery that brings blood to the lungs. When a person has pulmonary valve stenosis, the right side of the heart has to work harder than usual to pump blood.

Pulmonary Vein Stenosis

The veins that bring blood into the heart are narrow or blocked. This defect makes it hard for blood to flow back to the heart.

Tetralogy of Fallot

Four heart defects in the same patient:

1. A hole between the two lower chambers of the heart (Ventricular Septal Defect or VSD)

2. Narrowing of the valve between the right side of the heart and the artery that brings blood to the lungs (Pulmonary Valve Stenosis)

3. Aorta that is over a hole in the lower chambers of the heart.

4. The wall of the right side of the heart is unusually thick.

Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR):

Veins from the lungs connect to the wrong side of the heart, so that both oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood go into the right atrium. The right side of the heart has to work harder than it should to pump the extra blood.

Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA)

The locations of the aorta and the main pulmonary arteries are switched. Oxygen-poor blood is pumped to the body and brain, and oxygen-rich blood is pumped to the lungs.

Tricuspid Atresia

The valve between the two right chambers of the heart is missing or underdeveloped. Blood cannot flow from the top to bottom of the right side of the heart, and so not enough blood goes to the lungs.

Truncus Arteriosis

The aorta and main pulmonary artery are connected, so there is only one artery coming out of the heart. This causes oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood to mix, so that not enough oxygen goes out to the body and brain.

Ventricular Septal Defect

A hole between the two lower chambers of the heart. It causes oxygen-rich blood to go back to the lungs, and mixes oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood. Sometimes, the heart needs to work harder than it should to pump enough oxygen to the body.

Unique Children, Unique Hearts

While heart defects can be grouped into general categories, every heart is unique. Families should work with their cardiologists to make sure that the understand the anatomy and function of their own child's heart.

Having any congenital heart defect makes it more likely that a child will have developmental delays or disabilities. In general, more severe heart defects are associated with more frequent and more serious developmental challenges. Families can speak with their medical providers about their child's need for developmental monitoring and services.

This content was reviewed by a cardiologist and a psychologist at Boston Children's Hospital.

Developmental care is best when it is local. Families local to Boston can receive care from the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program (CNP). Families from other regions can use the link below to find their local care team.

References

Blue, G. M., Kirk, E. P., Sholler, G. F., Harvey, R. P., & Winlaw, D. S. (2012). Congenital heart disease: current knowledge about causes and inheritance. Medical Journal of Australia, 197(3).https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A4%3A3478356/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Ascholar&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A79329717&crl=c&link_origin=scholar.google.com

Lopez, L., Houyel, L., Colan, S. D., Anderson, R. H., Béland, M. J., Aiello, V. D., ... & Franklin, R. C. (2018). Classification of ventricular septal defects for the eleventh iteration of the International Classification of Diseases—striving for consensus: a report from the International Society for Nomenclature of Paediatric and Congenital Heart Disease. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 106(5), 1578-1589.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003497518310038

Micheletti, A. (2019). Congenital heart disease classification, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. Congenital heart disease: the nursing care handbook, 1-67.https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-78423-6_1

Sun, R., Liu, M., Lu, L., Zheng, Y., & Zhang, P. (2015). Congenital heart disease: causes, diagnosis, symptoms, and treatments. Cell biochemistry and biophysics, 72, 857-860.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12013-015-0551-6

Xu, X., Wang, T., Zhuang, J., Yuan, H., Huang, M., Cen, J., ... & Shi, Y. (2020). Imagechd: A 3d computed tomography image dataset for classification of congenital heart disease. In Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention–MICCAI 2020: 23rd International Conference, Lima, Peru, October 4–8, 2020, Proceedings, Part IV 23 (pp. 77-87). Springer International Publishing.https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-59719-1_8

Van Der Bom, T., Zomer, A. C., Zwinderman, A. H., Meijboom, F. J., Bouma, B. J., & Mulder, B. J. (2011). The changing epidemiology of congenital heart disease. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 8(1), 50-60.https://www.nature.com/articles/nrcardio.2010.166

You might also like:

related resources

Want to Learn More?

Click below for related resources, search resources by topic, or explore one of our custom guides.

Don't see what you're looking for? Let us know what you want to learn! We will try to add content to respond to your needs. Email CNPschedulingandquestions@childrens.harvard.edu