[Familial congenital cardiopathy]

1. The authors report on the frequency of family congenital heart disease in a consecutive series of 380 congenital patients, studied in the lapse of one year in the Pediatric Cardiology Service of the National Institute of Cardiology of Mexico. 2. They report that of 380 families with one member with congenital heart disease, 13 had two or more members with heart malformations. 3. They point out that the index of frequency of family congenital heart disease was 34 per 1,000, a figure higher than that of other authors 6,40 (18 and 20 per 1,000). 4. They demonstrated that in families with an affected member, the possibility that there is another member with heart disease rises 5 to 7 times above the figure of prevalence expected for the general population. 5. They comment that the greater the numbers of patients with congenital heart disease in a family, the greater the probability is that there will be a descendent with cardiovascular malformation. 6. They make note that the normality of the chromosomatic studies of this and other investigations should not be an obstacle for postulating the genetic component in the multifactorial ethiology of congenital heart diseases. 7. Finally, they emphasize the importance of performing a complete cardiologic study of the family having a member with congenital heart disease.