Absent Pulmonary ValveNancy McDaniel M.D.In this heart defect there are four chambers and four valves. The valve going to the lung artery is very abnormal. The valve is narrow and it leaks. Because of the narrowing, the lung arteries are many times larger than normal. The large lung arteries compress the breathing tubes such that the babies cannot breath well. The other major problem is a large hole between the two pumping chambers. This large hole puts additional pressure on the lung arteries and also allows the blue blood (blood with low oxygen) to go out to the body making the baby less pink than normal. This defect is very rare and can sometimes be fixed by closing the hole and replacing the lung artery valve.
 Normal Heart  |