Ventricular septal defect
Epidemiology
Etiology
Pathophysiology
Clinical features
General
- Small defects: usually asymptomatic
- Medium-sized or large defects
- Lead to heart failure by the age of 2–3 months
- Become symptomatic after high pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) present at birth starts to decrease: ↓ PVR → ↓ right ventricular pressure → ↑ left-to-right shunt → symptoms
- So it may not be heard at birth