Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a congenital heart defect which is classically understood to involve four anatomical abnormalities of the heart (although only three of them are always present). It is the most common cyanotic heart defect, and the most common cause of blue baby syndrome.

“Single ventricle defect” is a general, non-specific term used to describe several congenital heart defects that differ from each other, but that share the same problem: The heart has only one adequate-sized functional pumping chamber (ventricle).

A cardiac shunt is a pattern of blood flow in the heart that deviates from the normal circuit of the circulatory system. It may be described as right-left, left-right or bidirectional, or as systemic-to-pulmonary or pulmonary-to-systemic.

Open heart surgery is any type of surgery where the chest is cut open and surgery is performed on the muscles, valves, or arteries of the heart.

Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimally invasive surgery (MIS), bandaid surgery, or keyhole surgery, is a modern surgical technique in which operations are performed far from their location through small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) elsewhere in the body.

A hole in the septum between the heart’s two upper chambers is called an atrial septal defect (ASD). A hole in the septum between the heart’s two lower chambers is called a ventricular septal defect .