Congenital heart defects also in adulthood?
Von Essen, R.
Fortschritte der Medizin 110(17): 322-326
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-8178 PMID: 1644390 Document Number: 400751
Congenital heart diseases that escape detection are a rarity in adulthood (less than 1%). The number of patients with such abnormalities operated on during childhood or adolescence is, in contrast, on the increase. The most common heart abnormalities diagnosed for the first time in adulthood are atrial septal and ventricular septal defects, but anomalies of the left ventricular outflow tract or coarctation of the aorta is sometimes also detected only in adulthood on the occasion of an investigation of hypertension. In addition to the findings at auscultation, clinical pictures, ECG and chest X-ray, echocardiography is becoming ever decisive for the diagnostic work-up. Further, the extent of the haemodynamic changes can now be determined non-invasively, and may thus tip the balance when deciding for and against an operation.