Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about ventricular septal defects.

And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero definals.com slash VSD or in the cardiology section of the zero definals pediatrics book.

So let's get straight into it.

A ventricular septal defect or a VSD is a congenital hole in the septum or the wall between the two ventricles.

And this can vary in size from tiny to the entire septum or the entire wall between the two ventricles. And this can vary in size from tiny to the entire septum or the entire wall

between the two ventricles, forming one large ventricle. VSDs can occur in isolation,

meaning they're the only pathology within the new baby. However, there is often an associated

underlying genetic condition and they're commonly

associated with Down syndrome and Turner syndrome.

Due to the increased pressure in the left ventricle compared to the right ventricle, blood

typically flows from left to right through the hole between the ventricles.

Blood is still flowing around the lungs before entering the rest of the body.

Therefore the patient remains asyanotic, or they don't become cyanotic,

because their blood is properly oxygenated.

The left to right shunt leads to right-sided overload

and right heart failure and increase flow into the pulmonary vessels.

The extra blood flowing through the right ventricle increases the pressure in the pulmonary ventricles

over time and this leads to pulmonary hypertension. If this continues, the pressure in the right

side of the heart may become greater than the pressure in the right side of the heart may become greater than the

pressure in the left side of the heart. And this results in blood flowing from the right side to the

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