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Review
. 2018 Jan-Mar;14(1):60-62.
doi: 10.14797/mdcj-14-1-60.

Spontaneous Closure of a Secundum Atrial Septal Defect

Stephen Y Wang  1 , Terrence D Welch  1 , Aryé Elfenbein  2   3 , Aaron V Kaplan  1
Affiliations
Review

Spontaneous Closure of a Secundum Atrial Septal Defect

Stephen Y Wang et al. Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J. 2018 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Spontaneous closure of an atrial septal defect (ASD) is well described in pediatric cardiology but may be less familiar to adult internists and cardiologists. We report a moderately sized 6-mm ASD that closed spontaneously without intervention. A literature review found that a smaller defect size and an early age of diagnosis are the most important predictors of closure. Possible mechanisms of a spontaneous ASD closure include adaptive endothelial migration, limited myocardial proliferation, and fibroblast migration with extracellular matrix deposition.

Keywords: atrial septal defect; cardiology; congenital heart disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have completed and submitted the Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal Conflict of Interest Statement and none were reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Transthoracic echocardiography shortly after birth demonstrates a 6-mm secundum atrial septal defect by 2-dimensional imaging (A, marked by crosshairs). Color Doppler imaging (B) shows left-to-right flow (between arrows) across the defect. Transesophageal echocardiography performed at age 18 demonstrates complete closure of the secundum ASD by 2-dimensional (C) and color Doppler (D) imaging. LA: left atrium; RA: right atrium
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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