Atrial septal defect--echocardiographic assessment before and after surgical repair.

Twent~-two patients with atrial septal defect (ostium secundum type and amua venosus) were studied by echucardiography before and after surgery. The sizes of the various heart chambers right and left ventricles, Ieft atrium and aortic root and the interventricular seprum and the left ventricular posterior free wall (motion and thickness) were analvsed and compared in the pre and postoperative period. A significant reduction o size L)f the right ventricle and a normalizanon of the left ventricular dimension in the early postoperative evaluation was found. The paradoxical motion of the interventricular septum seen in the preoperative period sliowed ao earlv trend toward normalization. The changes before and after surgery are d scussed, particu larly for the interventricular septum.