Tricuspid Atresia

Healthcare providers can diagnose tricuspid atresia before or after your baby’s birth. Ultrasound allows them to make a diagnosis before birth. After your child is born, their provider can sometimes hear a heart murmur through their stethoscope.

What tests will be done to diagnose tricuspid atresia?

Healthcare providers usually diagnose tricuspid atresia with an echocardiogram. An echocardiogram is an ultrasound that uses high-pitched sound waves that bounce off your child’s heart to produce moving images on a video screen. The echocardiogram tracks the flow of blood and can show:

• That the tricuspid valve is missing and the right ventricle is smaller than normal.
• How much blood is moving through the holes in your child’s septum, or wall between heart chambers.
• Related defects of the heart, including a ventricular septal defect or an atrial septal defect.

Because an ultrasound uses harmless sound waves to create images, your provider can use it to check your child’s heart before birth. A fetal echocardiogram gives a better view if a more general ultrasound shows possible tricuspid atresia. In developed countries, providers diagnose most babies before birth.

Other diagnostic tests (after birth) include:

• Cardiac catheterization.
• Electrocardiogram (EKG).
• Pulse oximetry (using sensors to detect a baby’s oxygen level).
• Chest X-ray.