Abstract

Aim: Atrial septal defect (ASD) is the second most comman congenital heart defect among children and adults. With the development of echocardiography, important advances has been made in the diagnosis and follow up of ASD. In this study, the size of ASD's at diagnosis, spontaneous closure and prognosis were evaluated. Method: 149 patients diagnosed as secundum ASD with transthoracic echocardiography (Hewlett Packard Sonos 1000) in Ege University Hospital, Pediatric Cardiology Unit were studied. Results: 96 (64%) of them were females, 53 (35%) were males. At the time of diagnosis, size of the defect was 1ess than 4 mm in 54 (36%) patients, 4 mm in 20 (13%), 5-6 mm in 16 (10%), 7-8 mm in 17 (11%), and more than 8 mm in 42 (28%) patients. On follow up, defects less than 6 mm ciased spontaneously in 83% of cases. However, if the defect size was more than 8 mm, surgical treatment was required in 92% of the cases. Conclusion: It is thought that ASD size at diagnosis determined by transthoracic echocardiography is an important indicator in spontaneous closure of atrial septal defects.