Ventricular Septal Defects

Ventrciular septal defects are commonly encountered congenital heart disease. They include a variety of lesions depending upon the morphological features of the septal defect. These lesions result in an abnormal communication between the right and left ventricles, resulting in left to right shunting of blood across the ventricular septum and subsequently increased pulmonary blood flow. This direction of shunting may be altered (right to left or bidirectional) in the presence of associated lesions causing elevation of right heart pressures such as with tetralogy of Fallot, severe pulmonary stenosis, or pulmonary vascular obstructive disease. In this chapter, we review the morphology, presentation, diagnosis, and management of the various types of ventricular septal defects.