Just found out I have an ASD

Hello there and thanks for taking the time to review my question. I am a 26 F that just found out that I have a secundum atrial septal defect. A month ago I had a small stroke and they thought that it was from a carotid dissection. I had one three years ago and they thought that I had had a recurrence. My angiogram was normal and they then decided to do the echo because I had had heart palpations and a couple of episodes of syncope while in hospital. That is when they discovered the defect.

In Dec. 99 while I was 27 weeks pregnant I went into heart failure and at the time they did not know why. I also developed paracerditis...again they did not have an explanation for it. I was on Lasix and other meds for the infection and all cleared up when I delivered. They never did do an echo. Could all of this been from the ASD? I was also diagionsed with asthma but stopped the meds because they never seemed to help with the shortness of breath.

My neuro docs are now telling me that they think that all of the trouble I have had has been from the ASD. Could this be the case?

On my echo it said that there is a Grade 1 left ventricle with an ejection fraction estimated at 69% What does that mean? My shut ratio was 1.2:1 and flow was primarily left to right with no right heart enlargement.

My dr's are making appt's to see the heart docs but I am wondering what to expect.

Thanks very much for taking the time to review my question...very much appreciated. Thank you

Janet

[CCF-M.D.-CRC]

Dear Honeywell,

They never did an echo in 99 when you had heart failure and pericarditis!?!  Well, atrial septal defects (ASDs) can be missed on surface echo so they may not have caught it then even if they did an echo.  It is possible that some degree of heart failure can be caused by an ASD with the extra workload of pregnancy placed on the heart.  An ASD should not cause pericarditis.  The stroke for sure can be due to small clots that would normally be filtered by the lung traveling instead to the brain.  The echo report shows normal pumping function and a small amount of blood flow across the ASD.  Depending on the size of the ASD the cardiologist may recommend watching, starting blood thinners such as coumadin or repairing the ASD with surgery or a cath procedure.  The good news is that they can be treated and the prognosis with an ASD is excellent.

[1tonette]

A related discussion, ASD was started.

[markmsn10]

A related discussion, How are they missed? was started.