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(Circulation. 1971;43:129.)
© 1971 American Heart Association, Inc.

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Echocardiographic Features of Atrial Septal Defect

MORTON A. DIAMOND M.D.¹; JAMES C. DILLON M.D.¹; CHARLES L. HAINE ¹; SONIA CHANG B.A.¹; HARVEY FEIGENBAUM M.D.¹

¹ From the Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, and the Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Marion County General Hospital, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Echocardiographic studies were performed on 39 adult patients with atrial septal defects. Findings were compared with those from normal subjects, patients with other congenital left-to-right shunts (ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus), patients with uncomplicated right ventricular pressure overload (pulmonic stenosis and pulmonary hypertension), and patients with pulmonary hypertension complicated by tricuspid regurgitation. Two echocardiographic features were assessed: 1) a right ventricular dimension, or RVD Index, representing the distance between the right ventricular epicardial echoes and echoes from the right side of the interventricular septum divided by the patient's body surface area, and 2) motion of the interventricular septum.

The increased RVD Index and abnormal septal motion observed in the patients with atrial septal defects provided an ultrasound complex that could clearly separate these patients from normal individuals, those with ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus, and those with uncomplicated right ventricular pressure overload. However, patients with tricuspid regurgitation could not be differentiated from the group with atrial septal defects, indicating that this echocardiographic complex reflected a volume overload of the right ventricle.

Key Words: Ultrasound cardiography • Tricuspid regurgitation • Congenital heart disease • Pulmonary hypertension • Right ventricular overload

Submitted on May 25, 1970
Accepted on September 24, 1970

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