A case series of pulmonary hypertension in small infants with atrial septal defect

Atrial septal defect (ASD) is one of the most common congenital heart defects (CHDs) with prevalence of 8% to 10% in children with CHD and incidence of 56 per 100000 live births. It is categorized according to the defect site in which the most common form is secundum ASD (ASD2) with the defect in the central part of the atrial septum.

In our case series, we evaluated five children aged under one year old with ASD2 and pulmonary hypertension (PH). All the patients were referred for surgical ASD closure. Their PH was improved and the size of right atrium (RA) and right ventricle (RV) became normal during the follow-up and one year after the surgery all of them had normal pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) with normal RA and RV size.

According to our study and those done by others, the prevalence of PH in infants with ASD is low, but when this combination is found without any other CHD, ASD closure should be considered.