M-mode and two-dimensional contrast echocardiography in adult patients with atrial septal defects

M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiographic studies, with and without contrast injection, were performed in 14 adult patients with clinical and radiological signs of atrial septal defects. Two-dimensional contrast echocardiography was found to be the most sensitive technique, allowing a definitive diagnosis to be made noninvasively in 12 patients (86%) of those patients studied. M-mode contrast echocardiography demonstrated an atrial shunt in 6 patients (43%). Regular two-dimensional echocardiography produced a high proportion of false-positive and false-negative results, while the findings on M-mode echocardiography are sensitive but nonspecific. All 14 patients described had the diagnosis confirmed on cardiac catheterization. Performance of the Valsalva maneuver during contrast echocardiography was found to be diagnostically unhelpful. The findings suggest that contrast echocardiography, particularly two-dimensional, is an effective, noninvasive diagnostic technique to be applied on clinical suspicion of atrial septal defects.