close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffPrompt treatment helps avoid potentially fatal complications of tricuspid atresia, including:
- Lack of oxygen to tissues (hypoxemia). Tricuspid atresia may result in your baby's tissues getting too little oxygen, a condition that can be life-threatening.
- Increased red blood cell count (polycythemia). If your baby has tricuspid atresia, his or her body may begin to produce a greater than normal number of red blood cells to try to compensate for the lack of oxygen caused by tricuspid atresia. This can interfere with normal blood flow, which may lead to blood clots, a heart attack or a stroke.
Complications later in life
Although treatment greatly improves the outcome for babies with tricuspid atresia, they may still have the following complications later in life, even after surgery:
- Formation of blood clots that may lead to a clot blocking an artery in the lungs (pulmonary embolism) or to a stroke
- Easily tiring when participating in sports or other exercise
- Heart rhythm abnormalities (arrhythmias)
References
- Sondheimer HM, et al. Cardiovascular diseases. In: Hay WW Jr, et al. Current Diagnosis and Treatment: Pediatrics. 19th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3402846. Accessed April 28, 2010.
- Single-ventricle defects. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/print_presenter.jhtml?identifier=11072. Accessed April 28, 2010.
- Harris IS, et al. Congenital heart disease in adults. In: Crawford MH. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Cardiology. 3rd ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill; 2009 http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3649722. Accessed April 28, 2010.
- Keane JF, et al. Tricuspid atresia: Clinical manifestations. In: Keane JF, et al. Nadas' Pediatric Cardiology. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2390-6..50050-7--cesec5&uniq=198820213&isbn=978-1-4160-2390-6&sid=991370226. Accessed April 30, 2010.
- Congenital heart defects. March of Dimes. http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1212.asp. Accessed April 28, 2010.
- Tricuspid atresia. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec19/ch287/ch287i.html. Accessed April 28, 2010.
- Sittiwangkul R, et al. Outcomes of tricuspid atresia in the Fontan era. Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2004;77:889.
- Berg C, et al. Prenatal diagnosis of tricuspid atresia: Intrauterine course and outcome. Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2010;35:183.
Find Mayo Clinic on