Non-Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease

Non-cyanotic congenital heart disease is a grouping of heart defects present at birth. And though these defects can all impede the flow of blood, the lack of oxygen associated with these disorders isn't necessarily as great as in cyanotic heart defects. When you suffer from non-cyanotic congenital heart disease, it can affect the walls or valves of the heart as well as its arteries.

Ventricular Septal Defect

• Of all the non-cyanotic diseases of the heart, a ventricular septal defect is probably one of the more common. Often referred to as simply VSD, this condition is characterized by an abnormal opening within the chambers of the ventricles, which make up the lower portion of your heart. While this may sound fairly serious (as it can be), a number of people born with this condition don't actually need treatment to seal the hole, as it can close up all on its own.

Atrial Septal Defect

• Another fairly common form of non-cyanotic congenital heart disease is a condition called atrial septal defect. Also known as ASD, this disorder finds the hole within the septum between your right and left atriums, which are the upper two chambers of your heart. And much like a ventricular septal defect, this congenital disease can also "treat" itself, where your body closes the opening on its own, especially when the defect is small.

Endocardial Cushion Defect

• Following along the same lines as both ventricular septal and atrial septal defects, you may also be born with an endocardial cushion defect. But instead of a hole between two of the chambers, you actually lack a septum, or the wall that divides the left and right quadrants of your heart. Medical intervention is almost always necessary to "recreate" the missing septum.

Aortic Stenosis

• Sometimes, a non-cyanotic congenital heart defect can involve the aortic valve of your heart, which is the valve connected to the major blood vessel responsible for delivering "oxygenated" blood to the rest of your body. In this defect, the aortic valve suffers from a stenosis, where the opening between your left ventricle and aorta is abnormally narrow and doesn't open properly. This obviously hinders proper blood flow and can deprive your system of oxygen and nutrients. With some cases, the stenosis remedies itself. But this narrowing may need to be manually corrected through an operation.

Pulmonic Stenosis

• It's also possible to be born with another form of valvular stenosis that affects the pulmonary valve. With this non-cyanotic heart defect, the narrowing occurs within the valve between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery, which is responsible for carrying "deoxygenated" blood to your lungs. Though not as common as other defects of the heart, treatment varies greatly based on the severity of the condition. For some people, this defect may clear up on its own. Other may need medication or surgery to treat or correct the problem.

Patent Ductus Arteriosus

• Sometimes, non-cyanotic congenital heart disease has nothing to do with the heart at all. Instead, the defect may lie within the aorta and pulmonary artery. In this situation, an abnormal opening remains between these two blood vessels causing a disruption in circulation. Treatment is often dictated by the size of the hole, as smaller openings may close on their own. If the hole fails to seal or it's larger in size, a surgical procedure is necessary to close the opening.

Aortic Coarctation

• An aortic coarctation is another form of non-cyanotic congenital heart disease. With this defect, nothing is actually wrong with the heart itself; you're ultimately born with an abnormally narrow aorta, hindering blood flow to the rest of your body. Though this condition still impacts the overall function of the heart, as it needs to work that much harder to circulate blood, treatment revolves around widening the blood vessel, either through the removal of the narrowed arterial tissue or manually opening it through angioplasty.