atrial septal defect
1
6.0
- noun
- /ˈeɪtriəl ˈsɛptəl dɪˈfɛkt/
- Specialized
:
defecto del septo auricular
- Ralph was born April 29, 2007, with meconium aspiration syndrome and an atrial septal defect.
Examples
-
The patient's past medical history was notable only for repair of an atrial septal defect and supravalvar pulmonary stenosis at 11 months of age.
Academic text (2004) -
Referring diagnoses include atrial septal defect, pulmonic stenosis, and rheumatic heart disease.
Academic text (2007) -
She had an atrial septal defect (ASD) repair one year before presentation.
Academic text (2007) -
The doctor explained that an atrial septal defect could cause various symptoms if left untreated.
-
Many children with an atrial septal defect may not show any symptoms until they reach adulthood.
-
A patient diagnosed with an atrial septal defect needs regular follow-ups to monitor heart function.
Synonyms
4
3.9
A heart problem present at birth that changes the heart's shape or how it works
1
5.8
A hole in the wall between the left and right sides of the heart that you are born with
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally transparent: a learner who knows 'atrial' (relating to the heart's atria), 'septal' (relating to a septum), and 'defect' (a flaw) can infer it denotes a flaw in the atrial septum — i.e., an opening between the left and right atria. Although medical, the meaning follows straightforward semantic composition and is cross-linguistically expressed in similar terms, so it should be understandable to a learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Atrial septal defect shows the idea in its words: atrial means the heart's upper chambers, septal means the wall between them, and defect means a 'hole'. Imagine a tiny hole in the wall between two rooms of the heart so blood can pass from one side to the other. So, it means 'an abnormal opening between the left and right atria'.