Single VentricleNancy McDaniel M.D.The heart in this defect has four chambers and four valves but the sizes and arrangements of the ventricles and valves is not normal. The main defect is that there is one large pumping chamber (usually a left ventricle) and one pumping chamber that is very small (usually the right ventricle). The right ventricle in addition to being too small is usually in an abnormal position and is connected to the aorta rather than the lung artery. Both the right and left valves leading from the collecting chambers open into the one large chamber. This allows the blue and red blood to mix. The lung artery usually comes off the big chamber. There is usually a small hole between the collecting chambers (atria). Sometimes babies with this defect can act well and feed well. More often the babies have too much blood going to their lungs and they do not gain weight normally. Occasionally it is too hard to get blood to the aorta and the babies can become very sick. Sometimes medicines can help the baby grow better and sometimes there are surgeries that can be done.
 Normal Heart  |