a rare form of congenital heart disease in which there is no communication between the right atrium and the right ventricle. Affected babies present with cyanosis, breathlessness, particularly on feeding, and failure to thrive. Diagnosis is by echocardiography. Treatment involves surgical intervention, but the prognosis is often poor.
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absence of the tricuspid orifice of the heart; circulation is made possible only by the presence of an atrial septal defect, with blood passing from the right to the left atrium and thence to the left ventricle and aorta. Classification by type is made according to the presence or absence of pulmonary stenosis and of transposition of great vessels.
Tricuspid atresia, in a clinical specimen (left) and apical four chamber view (right). There is a notable wedge of sulcus tissue (ST) in the floor of the right atrium (RA).. LA, left atrium; LV, left ventricle.
Medical dictionary. 2011.