Acyanotic congenital heart defects: Pathology review

In a pediatric cardiology clinic, 4-year-old Tara is brought in by her parents because she has not been acting herself over the past month. The mother also mentioned that she can’t keep up with the other children when playing and often gets fatigued or short of breath. Vital signs include a temperature of 37.0 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, a heart rate of 100 beats per minute, a blood pressure of 110 over 70 mmHg, and a respiratory rate of 18 breaths per minute. On examination, her skin is pink, and auscultation of the heart reveals a holosystolic murmur over the left sternal border.

Ok, so Tara has some sort of congenital heart defect. Congenital heart diseases are defects in the embryological development of the heart or its major blood vessels. When the defect causes blood to move from the right to the left side, it’s called a right-to-left shunt. This is because deoxygenated blood from th