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Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)
What
is an Atrial Septal
Defect?
There usually
are no obvious signs or symptoms of an Atrial Septal Defect in a newborn or a child. Occasionally,
growth will be slow or there may be more frequent pulmonary infections. A
referral to a pediatric cardiologist is usually requested because of the
presence of an abnormal heart murmur. Long-standing enlargement of the right
heart may cause abnormal heart rhythms in adults. How is
Atrial Septal Defect
detected? An abnormal
heart murmur is usually the first clue to the presence of congenital heart
disease. Often an echocardiogram will be obtained which documents the
presence of the Atrial Septal
Defect. It is important to precisely determine the location and size of the
hole using echocardiography. What
are the treatment options for Atrial Septal Defect? A small Atrial Septal Defect generally
does not cause complications in childhood and no treatment is required. If found
in infancy, many of these small Atrial Septal Defects will close on their own with time. If the Atrial Septal Defect is large
enough to cause cardiac enlargement, and has not gotten any smaller after
several years of age, then closure of the Atrial Septal Defect is warranted. For many years, the mainstay
of treatment was open-heart surgery, either by simply stitching the hole
closed or by sewing a patch over the hole to close it. The patch is generally
obtained from the wall of the sac surrounding the heart. A newer,
non-surgical approach to Atrial Septal
Defect closure has been developed and is becoming widely used. A catheter is
threaded from a vein in the groin, up through the venous system to the right
atrium, and then across the hole. An umbrella-like device is then threaded
through the catheter and placed in a position that straddles the hole to seal
it. The catheter itself is then removed. |
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