Cyanotic heart defects: cool mnemonic

To remember the five common types of congenital heart disease that present with early cyanosis, simply count to five.

One: truncus arteriosus

There is no separation between the aorta and pulmonary artery, leaving one great artery instead of two. This one vessel sits over a large VSD and carries blood to both the body and the lungs, eventually causing pulmonary hypertension if unrepaired.


Two: transposition of the great arteries

In this condition, the two great arteries are transposed, with the left ventricle abnormally connected to the pulmonary artery and the right ventricle abnormally connected to the aorta. Pulmonary venous return, however, is normal. This results in parallel circulation - blood goes from right heart to body to right heart, and from left heart to lungs back to left heart.


Three: tricuspid atresia

The three-leaflet triscuspid valve normally allows deoxygenated blood to flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle. When this valve is atretic (absent or seriously malformed), blood cannot flow easily to the lungs.


Four: tetralogy of Fallot

This is a cluster of four interrelated cardiac defects - pulmonary stenosis, right ventricular hypertrophy, overriding aorta and a ventricular septal defect.


Five: total anomalous pulmonary venous return

TAPVR is when the pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood back to the right heart instead of the left heart. There are five words in this condition.


I first saw this somewhere on the web a while back. If you know who deserves credit, please let me know.