Evaluation of Ventricular Septal Defect with Special Reference to the Spontaneous Closure Rate, Subaortic Ridge, and...

The medical records of 2283 patients with ventricular septal defect (VSD) were reviewed to determine spontaneous closure, left ventricular-to-right atrial shunt, subaortic ridge, and aortic valve prolapse. One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three patients had been followed 1 month to 26 years (median 4 years) by echocardiography. Most of 460 patients could not be followed due to transportation of the institution. VSD was perimembranous in 68.8% (1255), trabecular muscular in 21.7% (395), muscular outlet in 6% (109), muscular inlet in 2.6% (48), and doubly committed subarterial in 0.9% (16). Defect size was classified in 66.8% (1218) as small, in 15.7% (286) as moderate, and in 17.5% (319) as large. VSD closed spontaneously in 18.8% (343 of 1823 patients) by ages 40 days to 24.9 years (median, 1.8 years). One hundred fifty-seven of 1255 perimembranous defects (12.5%) and 167 of 395 trabecular muscular defects (42%) closed spontaneously (p < 0.001). Defect size became small in 306 (16.8%) of patients with VSD at a median of 2.5 years. Aneurysmal transformation was detected in 32.9% (600), left ventricular-to-right atrial shunt in 9.7% (176), subaortic ridge in 2.6% (48) of 1823 patients who were followed. In 381 (20.9%) of the 1823 patients, the VSD had been closed by a surgical or transcatheter technique. Surgery is required in one-fifth of patients with subaortic ridge or aortic valve prolapse. In conclusion, isolated VSDs are usually benign abnormalities that tend to shrink and close spontaneously.