Pediatric Vascular Intervention: Pulmonary Valve Atresia

Abstract

Pulmonary atresia is a birth defect of the pulmonary valve. This valve controls blood flow from the right ventricle to the main pulmonary artery. The right ventricle is the lower right chamber of the heart. The pulmonary artery is the blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the lungs. Pulmonary atresia is when this valve doesn't form at all. This means that no blood can go from the right ventricle of the heart out to the lungs. With pulmonary atresia, blood must use other routes to bypass the unformed pulmonary valve.