Skip Navigation

European Heart Journal 1983 4(2):129-136;
Copyright © 1983 by the European Society of Cardiology.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by SANTOSO, T.
Right arrow Articles by ROELANDT, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by SANTOSO, T.
Right arrow Articles by ROELANDT, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1983 The European Society of Cardiology

Contrast echocardiographic shunts may persist after atrial septal defect repair

T. SANTOSO*, R. S. MELTZER{dagger},, S. CASTELLANOS, P. W. SERRUYS and J. ROELANDT

Thoraxcenter, Erasmus University and University Hospital Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Received 10 December 1981; revised 26 April 1982; .

Requests for reprints to: Dr R. Meltzer, Cardiology Division, Mount Sinai Medical Center, 1 Gustave Levy Place, New York, N.Y. 10029, U.S.A.

Abstract

We performed contrast echocardiography on 19 subjects who were asymptomatic in the postoperative period after surgical repair of atrial septal defects. Eighteen of these subjects had adequate right heart echocardiographic contrast to assess the presence or absence of right-to-left shunting. Multiple M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiographic views were studied during several contrast injections with and without the Valsalva manoeuvre. Six patients had postoperative shunts and 12 patients had no postoperative shunts. The age of the six patients with postoperative shunts was 26 ± 10 years (mean ± s.d.) and that of the 12 patients without postoperative shunts was 39 ± 14 years.

Four out of six of the postoperative shunt group were males and of these three had patch repairs compared with two males out of 12 with patch repair in the no shunt group. There were no definite differences between the two groups in the following variables: type of atrial septal defect (primum v. secundum), pre-operative shunt size, pre-operative peak right ventricular pressure, pre-operative New York Heart Association functional class, pre- or postoperative right ventricular or left ventricular dimensions, aortic and left atrial dimensions. Four of the six patients with postoperative contrast echo shunting underwent cardiac catheterization, showing no significant step-up in oxygen saturation in three, and a significant shunt in one patient who had patch dehiscence at re-operation. We conclude that right-to-left shunts as demonstrated by contrast echocardiography are common in the late postoperative period after atrial septal defect repair. They need not indicate unsuccessful repair or a haemodynamically important residual shunt.

Key Words: Echocardiography • contrast echocardiography • atrial septal defect • right-to-left shunt


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.