What is Tetralogy of Fallot?
Tetralogy of Fallot, also called TOF, is a congenital heart disease. A congenital heart disease is one that a person is born with. TOF is the most common heart disease that causes cyanosis (bluish color of the skin). Cyanosis occurs when blood from the right side of the heart goes directly to the left side. The blood does not pass through the lungs, and it will not carry enough oxygen to give to the body. Normally, veins bring blood from your child’s body to his heart. The blood from the body enters the right atrium first, then is pumped down into the right ventricle. The right ventricle then pumps the blood into the lungs where oxygen is added. The blood goes back to the heart into the left atrium and down into the left ventricle. The left ventricle then pumps the blood out to the body where the oxygen can be used. With TOF, four different problems happen in your child’s heart while he is still inside the womb. The first problem is that the wall separating the two ventricles does not
