Q21.1: Atrial septal defect

You have a hole in your cardiac septum (also known as the interventricular septum), that is, the wall that divides the two sides of your heart. The hole is located in the septum between the two upper chambers (atria) of the heart. This condition is congenital, which means you were born with it.

The heart pumps blood through the body. Inside the heart are 4 chambers. There are 2 heart atria and 2 ventricles. Both heart atria and both ventricles are separated from each other by a partition.

A hole in the cardiac septum may develop during development in the womb before birth. The cardiac septum sometimes fails to close up as normal during development. A hole in the cardiac septum can result in blood flowing back and forth directly between the upper chambers (atria) or lower chambers (ventricles). This usually results in a change to normal blood flow. In some cases, this means that the heart and lungs are placed under greater strain. The blood supply to the body may also be impacted due to a hole in the cardiac septum.

You have a hole in the wall (septum) that divides the upper chambers (atria) of your heart. This causes blood to flow back from the left upper chamber (atrium) directly into the right atrium. From the right heart, blood flows through the lungs once more. The additional blood flow puts the heart and lungs under greater strain than normal. You may have various symptoms as a result. The condition often causes reduced stamina and feelings of weakness. The heart may also no longer beat at the right rhythm.

The bigger the hole in the cardiac septum between the atria, the sooner symptoms will appear. Often, the symptoms are also more severe with a larger hole. Having only a small hole in the septum may mean that you don’t have any symptoms at all.

Additional indicator

On medical documents, the ICD code is often appended by letters that indicate the diagnostic certainty or the affected side of the body.

  • G: Confirmed diagnosis
  • V: Tentative diagnosis
  • Z: Condition after
  • A: Excluded diagnosis
  • L: Left
  • R: Right
  • B: Both sides

Further information

Note

This information is not intended for self-diagnosis and does not replace professional medical advice from a doctor. If you find an ICD code on a personal medical document, please also note the additional indicator used for diagnostic confidence.
Your doctor will assist you with any health-related questions and explain the ICD diagnosis code to you in a direct consultation if necessary.

Source

Provided by the non-profit organization “Was hab’ ich?” gemeinnützige GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).