Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF)

They include:

• The muscle surrounding the lower right chamber becomes overly thickened
• A hole between the lower chambers of the heart
• The aorta (blood vessel) lies over the hole in the lower chambers
• An obstruction from the heart to the lungs

Echocardiography: Echocardiograms use high-pitched sound waves to take an image of the heart. Sound waves bounce off the heart and produce dynamic images that can be seen on a screen. Through this test, specialists determine if:

• there is a ventricular septal flaw and where it's located
• the structure of the pulmonary valve and pulmonary artery is normal
• the right ventricle is functioning well
• the aorta is positioned correctly

It highly depends on your overall health condition and the severity of the procedure you have. Undoubtedly, your activities will be limited to some extent specially if you do competitive sports. In case of suffering from leftover obstruction or leak in the pulmonary valve, you will have to avoid certain activities forever. Nonetheless, if the tetralogy has been repaired with an operation successfully, you can do your daily routine activities. There is nothing for being worry issues since your doctor will clarify them prior to the surgery.

Unfortunately, there is a high risk for endocarditis specially in kids suffering from tetralogy of Fallot. Those individuals who have undergone a valve replacement, still have a shunt or leaks around surgical patches. Accordingly, taking antibiotics before certain procedures is necessary to prevent endocarditis.

After the first complete repair, some problems may remain which require you to undergo more open-heart surgeries in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. In some cases, a procedure in which a balloon-tipped catheter is used to place an expandable stent in narrowed areas might be essential.

Naturally, the left side of the heart only pumps blood to the body and the heart's right side only pumps blood to the lungs. In an individual with tetralogy of Fallot, blood travels across the hole from the right pumping chamber to the left pumping chamber and out into the body artery. Obstruction in the pulmonary valve leading from the right ventricle to the lung artery does not allow the normal amount of blood to be pumped to the lungs. In some cases, the pulmonary valve is completely blocked.

A lot of women who have undergone this surgery previously can have successful pregnancies. Nevertheless, those women with serious residual heart problems may experience a difficult pregnancy. In general, when tetralogy of Fallot is repaired, the pregnancy risk becomes so low unless the woman deals with some side effects such as irregular heart rhythms or persistent narrowing of the pulmonary valve. Any woman who is willing to get pregnant should have a physical examination by her cardiologist in advance to make sure that the process will be completed successfully.