Atrioventricular Canal Defect, Partial

The heart in this defect has four chambers and four valves.

There are two main problems:

There is a hole between the upper chambers of the heart which are called the atria. The wall between the atria did not form completely and left a hole. The hole is called the atrial septal defect or ASD. The hole is in the bottom part of the wall which is called the primum part and it lets extra blood enter the right side of the heart.
This kind of hole is often found with a abnormal mitral valve. The mitral valve is the valve between the left collecting chamber (left atrium) and the left pumping chamber (ventricle) of the heart. In this defect there is a slit or cleft in the mitral valve which allows blood to be pumped backwards from the left ventricle. The leak can be small or large.

This heart defect can be fixed by an operation which sews up the leak in the mitral valve and puts a patch in the hole.

University of Virginia Health System