Clinical and echocardiographic patterns of congenital heart diseases in adults in Karbala Province, Iraq

Abstract

Objective To determine the patterns of congenital heart diseases in adults in Karbala province.
Methods A total of 85 patients aged more than 16 years were examined at Al-Hussain Medical City and Al-Hindiya General Hospital from June 2006 to December 2014. History, physical examination, electrocardiograms and transthoracic echocardiograms were done for them.
Results Seventy-eight of patients were less than 30 years old and two patients were more than 50 years old. Atrial septal defect was the most common primary diagnosis (28 patients) followed by pulmonary stenosis (22 patients) and ventricular septal defect (18 patients). Seven patients had patent ductus arteriosus and five patients had tetralogy of Fallot. Three patients had dextro-transposition of the great arteries and three had atrioventricular septal defect. There was one patient in each of the other categories (single ventricle, Ebstien anomaly, coarctation of aorta, subaortic ridge and bicuspid aortic valve).
Conclusion Atrial septal defect was the most common primary diagnosis. The percentage of patients with coarctation of aorta and aortic valve diseases was much less than in other studies. The ages of study patients were less than the patients in Western countries especially patients with tetralogy of Fallot, dextro-transposition of the great arteries, atrioventricular septal defect and single ventricle and coarctation of aorta.
Keywords congenital heart disease, echocardiographic, karbala