What is Atrial Septal Defect:

Atrial Septal Defect is a congenital heart defect. It involves a hole in atrial septum. This is the muscular wall which separates the two upper chamber of our heart. An ASD allows an abnormal passageway for heart that should not be happening.

In normal conditions, the oxygen rich blood flows from the left upper chamber down to left lower chamber and then goes out to supply oxygen in the whole body. But an ASD causes the flow of blood in the wrong direction, to the right atrium.

But the right atrium contains oxygen poor blood that needs to cycle through lungs. But now the right atrium has extra blood that go into the lungs.

If the ASDs are small, usually they don’t required treatment.But if the ASDs are large, then they may require nonsurgical or even surgical treatment to lower the risk of serious complications.

Types of ASD (Atrial Septal Defect)

Depending upon the location in the atrial septum, there are four main types of ASD

1 ) Secundum ASD:  This is the most common type of ASD Which is about 80℅ of the all ASDs.

It occurs in the middle of the atrial septum.

2) Primum ASD: These are in the lower part of the atrial septum.Babies with primum ASD, are likely to have other heart defects. Babies with primum ASD, are likely to have other heart defects.

3) Sinus venosus ASD:  These are in the upper or lower back part of the atrial septum. This type of ASD is linked with defects  in the large veins of the heart.

4) Unroofed coronary sinus:  It is the rarest ASD which is less than 1% of all ASDs. It involves missing or incomplete wall between coronary sinus and left atrium.

Effect of ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) in our body:

A small ASD doesn’t affect our body much. But the large ASD can cause strain to the right part of our heart. Because this time the right side of the heart has more blood that need to pass through the lungs. This extra blood flow can damage the blood vessels in the lungs.

Some problems with large ASDs(Atrial Septal Defect) are:

• Right heart enlargement which can cause heart failure if not treated for a very long period of time.
• Abnormal heart rhythms
• Stroke
• Pulmonary hypertension which is high blood pressure in the arteries that carry blood into lungs.
• Eisenmenger syndrome 

Symptoms and causes:

Even though the ASD is present at birth, but most people don’t have symptoms until adulthood.

The most common symptoms are:

• Being underweight
• Delay in growth.
• Infections in the recurrent respiratory system
• Trouble while breathing

Causes of ASD (Atrial Septal Defect):

The exact causes of ASD are still unknown. But congenital heart disease are often caused by  genetic changes that happens before birth.

Some factors can raise birthing parent’s risk of having a baby with congenital heart disease some of them are some of them are

• Smoking
• Alcohol consumption
• In taking certain prescription medication

Test for ASD (Atrial Septal Defect):

There are some test an ASD patient has to go through. The most common test are:

Electrocardiography (ECG): It shows the electrical of our hearts. It reveals the problems related with our heart’s electrical system.

Chest X ray: It will show if right atrium and right ventricle are enlarged. It can also show if the blood vessels in the lungs are effected. 

Transthoracic echocardiography: it shows how from left to right shunting of blood due to ASD effect our heart

Transesophageal echocardiography: It is an ultrasound passed through the esophagus. It reveals the size, shape and location of ASD.

Sometimes cardiac CT scan or heart MRI is also used with people who have less common form of ASD

Treatment of ASD (Atrial Septal Defect):

After the test has been completed, the healthcare providers suggest different treatment techniques depending upon the seriousness of ASD. Some treatment procedures are:

Percutaneous (nonsurgical) repair of ASD: here a device is used to close the hole in atrial septum.

Surgical repair of ASD:

It needed for serious ASDs coronary sinus defects and most sinus venosus ASDs. These are rare defects that require treatment by a cardiac surgeon having expertise in congenital heart disease.

Indian hospitals offer all of these treatments in a hi-tech environment manned by top- notch medical professionals. If you are planning to come to India for your ASD treatment, please get in touch with us.