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Olsen's sons heart defect


CarolinaSamurai

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Samurai,

 

So good to hear that the physicians at Presbyterian Hospital were able to successfully correct your congenital heart malformation.  

 

I do however not believe that a Snowman heart is the same as hypoplastic left heart syndrome.  The cardiac defect in Snowman heart is an abnormal connection of the pulmonary veins, which should normally transport the oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium, to the right superior caval vein, thereby eventually draining the blood into into the right atrium.  In HLHS, the left ventricle, responsible for pumping blood into the body, is severely underdeveloped.  Both situations are congenital heart defects that need surgical intervention, patients with HLHS often need heart transplants.  I am confident that Olsen's son is getting the best care available and that, as a result, he will grow up to be a healthy man, just like you.  

 

PS While I am not a physician, I have dedicated my scientific life to understanding and elucidating congenital heart disease.  Twenty years ago I moved from The Netherlands to the US to join one of the leading research groups in the nation at that time.

 

This is correct.  TAPVR (Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return) is where the pulmonary veins return somewhere other than the Left Atrium.  The X Ray for this looks like a snowman.  If the return is somewhere BELOW the diaphragm/heart (infracardiac, also known as OBSTRUCTED) you get big time venous congestion and then the xray looks like a snowman in a snowstorm.

 

Snowman:

snowman.jpg

 

Infracardiac:

 

1cab77d1b657e4e123527d38fa9143.png

 

HLHS is where the left ventricle is underdeveloped and insufficiently pumps oxygenated blood to the body.  This can be fixed, but surgery (especially on an infant) is still risky business.  

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