Types and Differences of Heart Defects

There are at least 15 types of congenital heart disease. Each is defined by the location and severity of the heart defects. To understand these different types of abnormalities, one must have a basic understanding of the normal human heart.

There are two sides of the heart. The right side of the heart pumps oxygen–poor or deoxygenated blood from the body to the lungs, where the blood picks up oxygen. Then the oxygen-rich or oxygenated blood returns to the left side of the heart, which pumps the blood out to the body. There are five main areas in and around the heart that need to be fully functioning in order for this process to be carried out properly:
The veins that carry the blood back to the heart from the body and the lungs.

The upper chambers of the heart latria, which collect the blood returning to the heart.

The lower chambers of the heart ventricles, which pump the blood out from the heart to the lungs or the body.

The four valves of the heart. These valves allow blood to move only in the proper direction in the heart without allowing any blood to leak back in the other direction. These four valves are the tricuspid valve (between the right atrium and ventricle), the pulmonic valve (between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery to the lungs), the mitral valve (between the left atrium and the left ventricle) and the aortic valve (between the left ventricle and the aorta to the body).

The aorta (which carries oxygen–rich blood from the left ventricle to the rest of the body) and the pulmonary artery (which carries oxygen–poor blood from the right ventricle to the lungs).