Atrial Septal Defect???

[GirlGhost]

Several weeks back I posted a question about my husband's recent echo results. Thread can be found here for more detailed info. http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Disease/So-scared--please-answer/show/1823596#post_8408378

Anyway, as a result of his findings (hypertrophic cardiomyopothy) his cardiologist suggested our 18 year old son go ahead and have an echo done too to see if anything showed on his. Well, husband came home from work today to say that the doc called him and asked that we all come in to see her in a few weeks to discuss the findings and the possibility of having another test done.

Turns out she told my husband that, while there were no outright signs of the condition my husband has, the echo does suggest our son has an Atrial Septal Defect. She said it is not like we have to rush to see her for an appointment and that making one for several weeks out is fine. She also made it sound to my husband that it was very small. The main reason she wants us all in to discuss it is because she mentioned our son having a Trans Esophageal Echo done next.

Of course I jumped right on the internet to look up this ASD and am once again sitting here in tears. Some sites I found made things sound so bad and morbid and others "sorta" put me at ease that this can be taken care of and that he'd be fine and live a long life. What do you have to offer in way of info?

Reading about the symptoms I can't say that my son really has any of them. I mean, fatigue during exercise MAYBE, but who doesn't? He's a normal otherwise healthy kid. I just don't know what to think or say. I'm so sick with worry now. I just don't know. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance.

[CCFHeartMD21]

A patent foramen ovale is very common and rarely causes any major issues. It is a small hole in the septum between the two upper chambers of the heart that exists because the 2 layers that generally compose the septum are not fused completely. In most cases, no treatment or intervention is needed for PFOs. ASD are larger holes that exist due to incomplete apposition of the two layers that compose the septum leading to a hole where flow is able to go back and forth between the two upper chambers. ASDs can require closure in some people depending on the size of the defect and the amount of blood flow between the chambers along with the extent of the effect of this blood flow on the pressures of the right side of the heart. By the sounds of your discussion with your doctor, it sounds like this is a small defect and will not likely require any treatment in the near future, though I would continue with the plan to discuss this further with her at your clinic appointment.

[GirlGhost]

Just wanted to add that my husband went over to the cardiologists office yesterday to see if we could get our son's appointment moved up since I'm pretty much freaking out about this recent news.

The doctor actually took the time to come out to personally speak to my husband. He told her how concerned we were, I mean, it's our son, and that we really didn't want to wait that long if we could help it. Anyway, she said to him to please, please DO NOT panic about it. She said something about Patent Foramen Ovale and how about 20% of the population has it. She said that even if our son falls out of the parameters for that, it is VERY VERY slightly out. She told my husband that we do not need to worry ourselves and that our son will be fine. Oh and she also said that everything else about the echo looked great. That there was nothing else of concern.

The addition of this new news and the fact that she came out to speak to my husband more about it really put our minds at ease some. Just would like a little more info.