On my last day of shadowing a physician, I got to listen to the heart sounds of a patient who’d had surgery as a child for a heart defect. The name of the condition is something like tautology of flow, or tautrology of flow. I tried to find something about it on the web with no success. Does anyone know what the correct name and spelling is, and where I can find information on it?
Thanks,
Hi Jeff,
this is called Tetrology of Fallot (pronounced fallo -the emphasis on the"O") French, I believe
there are four things anatomically wrong in this scenario(four = “tet”)
1. a ventricular septal defect
2. a narrowing of the valve leading to the pulmonary arteries- "Pulmonary Stenosis"
3. the aorta “overides” the ventricular septal defect
"Overiding Aorta"
4. thickening of the walls of the right ventricle
"Right Ventricle Hypertrophy"
all of this leads to decreased blood flow to the lungs, and also a mixing of the blood from each side of the heart. It is usually corrected with surgical intervention. Hope this helps!
Patty
Thanks, Patty! 
I should have had the dr. write it down for me. I feel lucky to have been able to hear these pathologic heart sounds.
Remember
I Interseptal defect
H Hypertrophied R Ventricle
O Overridind Aorta
P Pulmonary Stenosis
As an added note to this discussion-- TOF shows up as a boot-shaped heart on X-ray. It is considered to be a diagnosing factor.
Children with TOF, if not repaired within the first few months of life (it used to be customary to wait until they were 2 years old) will have what are affectionately known as “Tet spells.” To remedy their very-common “blue spells” they will suddenly squat down in an effort to increase pulmonary blood flow. It usually works pretty well. Kids not old enough to stand will draw their legs into their chests instinctively.
They generally only require surgical intervention once and go on to live perfectly normal lives.
Wendy
As an added note to this discussion-- TOF shows up as a boot-shaped heart on X-ray. It is considered to be a diagnosing factor.
Children with TOF, if not repaired within the first few months of life (it used to be customary to wait until they were 2 years old) will have what are affectionately known as “Tet spells.” To remedy their very-common “blue spells” they will suddenly squat down in an effort to increase pulmonary blood flow. It usually works pretty well. Kids not old enough to stand will draw their legs into their chests instinctively.
They generally only require surgical intervention once and go on to live perfectly normal lives.
Wendy
As an added note to this discussion-- TOF shows up as a boot-shaped heart on X-ray. It is considered to be a diagnosing factor.
Children with TOF, if not repaired within the first few months of life (it used to be customary to wait until they were 2 years old) will have what are affectionately known as “Tet spells.” To remedy their very-common “blue spells” they will suddenly squat down in an effort to increase pulmonary blood flow. It usually works pretty well. Kids not old enough to stand will draw their legs into their chests instinctively.
They generally only require surgical intervention once and go on to live perfectly normal lives.
Wendy
As an added note to this discussion-- TOF shows up as a boot-shaped heart on X-ray. It is considered to be a diagnosing factor.
Children with TOF, if not repaired within the first few months of life (it used to be customary to wait until they were 2 years old) will have what are affectionately known as “Tet spells.” To remedy their very-common “blue spells” they will suddenly squat down in an effort to increase pulmonary blood flow. It usually works pretty well. Kids not old enough to stand will draw their legs into their chests instinctively.
They generally only require surgical intervention once and go on to live perfectly normal lives.
Wendy