Heart & Blood Vessels

• Congenital Hemangiomas

  A hemangioma is a growth of tangled blood vessels. A congenital hemangioma is one that a baby is born with. They’re usually a bluish or purple circle or oval.

• Congestive Heart Failure

  Heart failure is when the heart can’t pump blood the way it should. Congestive heart failure (CHF) is when blood backs up in the heart.

• DASH Diet for High Blood Pressure

  Doctor may recommend the DASH diet for kids who’ve had a blood pressure reading that was higher than normal. The DASH diet is not a strict diet, but more of a lifestyle.

• Dictionary: Aorta

  The aorta is the major blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body.

• Dictionary: Blalock-Taussig-Thomas (BTT) shunt

  A Blalock-Taussig-Thomas (BTT) shunt is a small, soft tube that lets blood in the body be redirected.

• Dictionary: Blood Pressure

  Blood pressure is a measurement that tells how hard the heart is pumping to move blood through the blood vessels.

• Dictionary: Heart Transplant

  A heart transplant is a surgery where doctors remove a person’s sick heart and replace it with a healthy donor heart.

• Dictionary: Inferior Vena Cava

  The inferior vena cava is the large vein that returns blood from the legs and abdomen to the heart.

• Dictionary: Interstage Period

  Babies with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) need three surgeries. The time between the first and second surgeries is called the interstage period.

• Dictionary: Left Atrium

  The left atrium receives blood full of oxygen from the lungs and then empties the blood into the left ventricle.