Congenital Heart Disease

Tetralogy of Fallot

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Placing the baby on the stomach with the knees bent (in the "fetal position") may control a "tetrology spell." Newborns may be given a drug called prostaglandin to keep the ductus arteriosus, a part of the fetal circulation system, open to improve blood flow.

The defects usually are corrected during a single operation done when the baby is about 6 months old unless the baby has inadequate oxygen. If the baby is too small, there may be two surgical procedures.

The first procedure connects the pulmonary arteries to the aorta or its branches by a tube called a shunt to supply blood to the lungs. Later surgery enlarges the pulmonary valve opening and closes the ventricular septal defect (VSD) with a patch so that blood flows easily into the pulmonary artery and lungs. The shunt is then removed.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007