Total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR)
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Total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR) is an uncommon congenital heart defect. Total abnormal pulmonary venous connection is another name for it (TAPVC) in which the pulmonary veins, wrong place of the heart.
Blood that is oxygenated typically travels from the lungs to the left atrium of the heart before continuing through the body. In TAPVR, an abnormal venous connection directs blood through the right atrium, the upper right chamber of the heart instead, where it mixes with blood that is low in oxygen. As a result, the blood that is going to the body lacks sufficient oxygen.
The different types of TAPVR are depending on where the veins converge. The majority of newborns with TAPVR have no congenital heart disease in family.
Symptoms
Soon after delivery, the doctor may identify the signs and symptoms of TAPVR. However, some kids don’t start showing signs until much later.
An infant with TAPVR may have trouble breathing and appear blue (cyanotic) due to low oxygen levels in the blood that leaves the body or due to reduced or blocked blood flow through the pulmonary veins.
Diagnosis
Your child’s doctor will do a physical examination and use a stethoscope to listen to the heart to look for a heart murmur.
An echocardiogram is used for diagnosing a total anomalous pulmonary venous return. In this procedure, sound waves are used to produce images of the beating heart of your child. The size of the heart chambers, holes in the heart, and pulmonary veins can all be seen on an echocardiogram.
If more information is required, additional tests may be performed, including an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a chest X-ray, or a Computerized Tomography (CT) scan.
Treatment
Surgery is needed when a child is a baby and the time it will be needed, will be determined if there is a blockage or not. Surgeons join the pulmonary veins to the left atrium and seal the opening between the atria to treat this congenital heart abnormality.
Total anomalous pulmonary venous return patients will require routine medical exams with cardiologists specializing in congenital heart disease to check for infections, blockages, or issues with heart rhythm.
