Atrial septal defect w/mitral valve insufficiency

Posted By Christy on September 27, 1998 at 20:30:55:







Of course I know you can't offer medical advice without examing the patient but could you please give me some general information to answer the questions below.  First, my history, I have a congenital heart defect that includes an atrial septal defect of the ostium primum type with a cleft mitral valve and mild to moderate regurgitation.  I was diagnosed at age 5 with mild insufficiency, then recently (age 30) had an echo that showed moderate regurgitation.  I am sympton free and there is no enlargement of the heart.  My doctor has advised a heart cath be done to determine exact regurgitation. My last one was at age 5.  I have put off surgery because I feel that the technology is improving every day and perhaps one day this surgery will not be as invasive.  I see from your web page that you are doing remarkable things.  My questions are: (1) What is the danger of becoming pregnant, both to mother and child, with this condition?  (2) Are the defects I described above able to be fixed with a less invasive procedure than open heart surgery?  (3) At what mitral valve insufficiency rate is surgery recommended when the patient is symptom free?  (4) Is the ostium primum ASD harder to fix than other ASD's because of the location?  (5) Is there any evidence to suggest a correlation between these defects and migraine headaches, which I suffer from?  Thanks for any info you can provide.  Christy