An eight-year-old child presented with congestive heart failure, blurred vision, and unexplained constitutional symptoms. An echocardiogram demonstrated a giant left atrial mass that obstructed the mitral valve inflow. After excision of the myxoma, the patient had an uneventful recovery.
Introduction
It is uncertain whether the use of selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and other anti-depressants during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of congenital heart disease (CHD) in newborn. There have been various studies showing a number of adverse outcomes, including gestational hypertension, reduced birth weight, altered neonatal pain responses and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn with exposure to anti-depressant medications. There have been very few longitudinal studies showing CHD association with the use of anti-depressant medications. Our objective is to examine the risk for congenital heart disease of the newborn associated with prenatal exposure to antidepressant medication.
Methods
We reviewed charts of mothers who were referred for a fetal echocardiogram between January 1
st
, 2009 and December 31
st
, 2014. We identified mothers who were exposed to antidepressant medications prenatally. Fetal echocardiograms for these patients were reviewed by two fetal cardiologists and each was blinded to the others' findings.
Results
A total of 40 patients were identified with prenatal exposure to SSRI. Seven (18%) out of these 40 were found to have a form of CHD. Two fetuses whose mothers were exposed to fluoxetine during pregnancy had large posteriorly malaligned ventricular septal defect, sub-aortic stenosis and critical coarctation identified on fetal echocardiogram. Exposure to citalopram during pregnancy was found to be associated with a moderate size secundum atrial septal defect on one patient and a moderate size mid muscular ventricular septal defect seen on fetal echocardiogram in another patient. Exposure to venlafaxine during pregnancy showed two small muscular ventricular septal defects on fetal echocardiogram on one patient and ductal constriction with increased ductal velocity on another patient. One of the women on escitalopram had a fetus with a large membranous ventricular septal defect (VSD), secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) and left superior vena cava. None of the women on a combination of drugs had CHD.
Conclusion
There is a risk of congenital heart disease in patients who are prenatally exposed to anti-depressant medications as evident by the specific echocardiographic abnormalities noted in the study.
We report two isolated and rare congenital malformations, namely double aortic arch and bronchopulmonary sequestration occurring as coexisting lesions in an infant. Clinical presentation leading up to a detailed anatomic diagnosis, using echocardiography and multidetector computerized tomographic angiographic imaging are described. To our knowledge, our patient is the second case reported with this dual pathology, making it an exceedingly rare occurrence.
This report describes 2 newborns with truncus arteriosus associated with an interrupted aortic arch who underwent a 2-stage repair due to poor preoperative condition. A repair of the interrupted aortic arch and ventricular-to-pulmonary artery conduit with a 6-mm Gore-Tex tube was performed as a first stage. Closure of a ventricular septal defect and placement of a right ventricular-to-pulmonary artery homograft conduit were performed electively at 8 months of age.
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