Connall's Condition

In this area of the site, we give information on Connall's heart condition and we have also tried to describe how a normal heart works when compared to Connall's heart, as we understand things to be, and in no way is this meant to be taken as an authorative and/or professional understanding of how the heart is and/or how the heart functions.

For definitions of the terminology used please see the Glossary sections.

As we understand things to be, Connall suffered from not one, but several heart conditions. These are listed below from what we recall of the first visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

Transposition of The Great Arteries

The left atrioventricular valve is either absent or atretic

A moderate sized ventricular septal defect

An atrial septum defect

The pulmonary veins appeared dilated, causing congestion within.

During a second visit to Great Ormond Street, all the above conditions were confirmed, but there were also concerns that the pulmonary veins were dilated and thick walled bilaterally with bi-directional flow, and that staged palliative surgery postnatally with the ultimate aim of creating a Fonton type of circulation would be theoretically available. However, the obstruction to the pulmonary venous drainage was of major concern, and would mean that the prospects of a successful outcome with palliative surgery postnatally would be low.

During a third visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital, we found out that there appeared to be a slight lessening of the congestion within the pulmonary veins, but more importantly, and something that worried us, was that small amount of liquid had appeared close to one of Connall's lungs.

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30 April, 2005