Thousands of young athletes receive preparticipation evaluations each year in the United States. One objective of these evaluations is to detect underlying cardiovascular abnormalities that may predispose an athlete to sudden death. The leading cardiovascular causes of sudden death in young athletes include hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital coronary artery anomalies, repolarization abnorm...

OBJECTIVE To review the relationship between congenital heart defects and chromosomal abnormalities detected by the karyotype. DATA SOURCES Scientific articles were searched in MEDLINE database, using the descriptors "karyotype" OR "chromosomal" OR "chromosome" AND "heart defects, congenital". The research was limited to articles published in English from 1980 on. DATA SYNTHESIS Congenital ...

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is the commonest muscular dystrophy in adults, affecting multiple organs in addition to skeletal muscles. Cardiac conduction system abnormalities are well recognized as an important component of DM1 phenotype; however, primary structural myocardial abnormalities, which may predispose these patients to congestive heart failure, are not as well characterized. We re...

EPIDEMIOLOGY Predisposing factors for infective endocarditis are cardiac abnormalities that disrupt the endocardium by means of a jet injury, as well as the presence of blood-borne microorganisms that colonize these abnormal surfaces. Congenitally bicuspid aortic valve is the most common predisposing lesion for endocarditis of the aortic valve. In addition, congenital abnormalities of the aorti...

VACTERL association is a non-random association of birth (congenital) defects that affects multiple median and para-median structures. VACTERL association is a useful acronym to denote vertebral abnormalities (V), anal atresia (A), cardiac defects (C), tracheo-esophageal fistula (TE), renal or radial abnormalities (R), and limb abnormalities (L). Atleast 3 or more defects must be present to mak...

BACKGROUND The exact survival rates and markers of survival after postoperative cardiac arrest in children with congenital heart abnormalities are unknown. METHODS In this one-year study, we identified children younger than seven years of age with postoperative cardiac arrest in our pediatric cardiac intensive care unit database. Parameters from perioperative, pre-arrest, and resuscitation pe...

Congenital diverticulum of the left ventricle is a very rare cardiac abnormality characterized by a local embryological development failure of the ventricular muscle. It may present as an isolated disorder or may be associated with other cardiac abnormalities. Clinically, it has been reported that it can lead to chest pain, arrhythmias, cardiac rupture, and sudden death, although frequently the...

Thirty fetuses with cardiac arrhythmias were referred for ultrasonography. This included cross sectional and M mode echocardiography and pulsed Doppler analysis of the fetal heart. Three types of arrhythmias were observed: ectopic beats, tachyarrhythmias, and bradycardia. Ectopic beats were associated with cardiac structural abnormalities in two cases, resulting in fetal death in one. Tachycard...