Secundum atrial septal defect accounts for 10% of congenital heart disease4 at birth and for 30-40% of cases seen in adults.5 Approximately 300-400 patients undergo surgical closure of atrial septal defect in the United Kingdom each year. Reports of the natural history of atrial septal defect and of the indications for and results of surgery imply that patients become increasingly symptomatic w...

Introduction Holt & Oram (1960) linked various skeletal abnormalities with congenital heart disease in four generations of a family. In particular, malformations of the hands were associated with atrial septal defect (secundum type) and bizarre arrhythmias. In 1961, McKusick described a similar syndrome in a mother and daughter and suggested the term 'atrio-digital dysplasia'. Harris & Osborne ...

RATIONALE High take-off of the coronary arteries is a rare cardiac anatomic anomaly, which may occur independently or with other congenital heart defects. In the clinical setting, it is noteworthy as a cause of sudden cardiac death. Further, it is vital to identify such anomalies to avoid intraoperative catastrophes in surgeries for congenital heart defects. PATIENT CONCERNS A II/6 systolic h...

Two sisters with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, and congenital heart disease are herein reported. One was a 20-year-old woman with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and multiple aphthous stomatitis, bronchial asthma, an emphysematous lung, a ventricular septal defect and a bilateral inguinal hernia due to hyperextensibility and joint hypermobility. The other was a 17-ye...

Atrial septal aneurysms have been related (either by association or as potential causes) to systolic clicks, atrial arrhythmias, systemic and pulmonary embolism, atrioventricular valve prolapse and atrial septal defect. To study these associations and the incidence of atrial septal aneurysm, we reviewed 80 consecutive patients (female to male ratio 1.9:1, mean age 47 years, range 1 day to 89 ye...

Situs inversus with mirror-image of the heart is a rare condition. The present report describes a case of a patient with dextrocardia with situs inversus who had atrial septal defect with multiple holes in the fossa ovalis. The patient underwent total endoscopic atrial septal defect repair using the da Vinci surgical system. This procedure was achieved safely with good clinical and excellent co...

Critical pulmonary valve stenosis (CPVS) and atrial septal defect (ASD) is an uncommon form of congenital heart disease. Concurrent transcatheter pulmonary valvuplasty and closure of secundum atrial septal defect appears to be an interesting alternative to surgical correction. We present the simultaneous balloon valvuloplasty of critical pulmonary stenosis (PS) with supra systemic right ventric...

The occurrence of various congenital anomalies, including heart defects, in children whose mothers had suffered from rubella during pregnancy was originally described by Gregg (1941) in Australia and these observations have been confirmed by many other workers. There is, however, surprisingly little detailed information available about the particular types of congenital heart defect that may oc...

RECENTLY Watkins and Gross' described a clinical syndrome that followed surgical closure of atrial septal defects in some of their patients. This syndrome consisted of the retention of fluid and a gain in weight during the early postoperative period. At times there followed tenderness in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, hepatomegaly, and roentgenographic evidence of pulmonary congestion...