[Ventricular septal defect in an adult patient]

We report the case of a 46 year old asymptomatic male whose chest X-ray showed a right aortic knob and in the physical examination he had a systolic murmur with a palpable left parasternal heave. On performing the transesophageal echocardiography and MRI a ventricular septal defect (VSD) was observed which only requires periodic echocardiographic reviews. VSD is the most common congenital heart disease. The VSD may be membranous, inlet, trabecular, or infundibular. The clinical signs may range from only anodyne with a left pansystolic parasternal murmur on physical examination, up to lung hyper-flow which may lead to heart failure. The chest X-ray showed cardiomegaly, the electrocardiogram showed biventricular hypertrophy, and the echocardiography and MRI showed the size and number of communications. Treatment is conservative, since 50% close spontaneously in the first years of life, reserving surgery for symptomatic and asymptomatic cases with a significant shunt.