Prevalence of Aortic Root Pathologies in Platypnea-Orthodeoxia Syndrome Secondary to Intra-Cardiac Shunts

Atrial septal defects can allow right to left shunting of venous blood which presents clinically as platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome. It is believed that concomitant presence of aortic root pathologies increases the likelihood of shunting.

The study included a review of 510 articles listed in PubMed of patients with platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome. Case reports of patients with extra-cardiac etiologies of platypnea-orthodeoxia were excluded.

We reviewed 191 case reports, and 98 cases (51.3%) had evidence of concomitant aortic root pathology. Furthermore, of the remaining 93 case reports, 69 ones excluded any mention of the nature of the aortic root altogether, further suggesting that this is an underreported number.

There is a high prevalence of aortic root pathologies in patients with platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome secondary to intra-cardiac shunts. In patients with unexplained hypoxemia and incidental finding of aortic root pathology, it may be worthwhile to obtain postural oxygen saturation measurements to exclude intra-cardiac shunts as the potential cause.