Cardiovascular Diseases and Cardiac Surgery

Overview

Elizabeth H. Stephens, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric and congenital cardiac surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, discusses the anatomy, physiology and surgical management of atrioventricular septal defects, also called canal defects.

Each of the various canal defects — including complete, intermediate, transitional and partial — is characterized by different degrees of mitral and tricuspid valve involvement and holes in the atrial and ventricular septum of the heart.