Heart & Blood Vessels

• Dictionary: Left Ventricle

  The left ventricle pumps blood full of oxygen out to the body.

• Dictionary: Open-Heart Surgery

  Open-heart surgery is surgery that involves opening the chest and heart. A heart-lung machine does the work for the heart and lungs during the procedure.

• Dictionary: Right Atrium

  The right atrium receives blood low in oxygen from the body and then empties the blood into the right ventricle.

• Dictionary: Right Ventricle

  The right ventricle pumps blood low in oxygen to the lungs.

• Dictionary: Sano shunt

  A Sano shunt is a small, soft tube that lets blood in the body be redirected.

• Dictionary: Single Ventricle Defect

  Having a single ventricle means that only one of the heart’s two ventricles (pumping chambers) works well enough to pump blood.

• Dictionary: Superior Vena Cava

  The superior vena cava is the large vein that returns blood from the head and arms to the heart.

• Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV)

  Double outlet right ventricle (DORV) is a heart defect where the aorta connects to the heart in the wrong place.

• Ebstein Anomaly

  Ebstein anomaly is a rare heart defect that affects the tricuspid valve. It can cause problems that range from very mild to very serious.

• Echocardiogram

  An echocardiogram (also called an echo or cardiac ultrasound) uses sound waves to create pictures of the heart. It shows the structure of the heart and its parts and how well they’re working.