What are single ventricle heart defects?

Also known as: single ventricle defect, SVD, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), double outlet left ventricle (DOLV), tricuspid atresia and others.

The ventricles are two of the hearts’ four chambers (the other two are called atria). The ventricles are responsible for pumping blood out of the heart.

When a baby is born with only one of the ventricles functioning  properly (or in some cases where a heart valve may be missing), this group of heart defects are called "single ventricle defects".

These include a group of quite different cardiac abnormalities.

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Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM