investigations
Last reviewed 12/2022
Investigations include:
- electrocardiogram
- chest radiology
- echocardiography, allowing the defect to be visualised.
- cardiac catheterisation and angiography - features dependent on the size of the defect.
- in a small defect: the right heart and pulmonary artery pressures are normal.
- large defect: the right heart and pulmonary artery are raised. The amount of left to right shunt through the defect can be calculated by analysis of the appropriate oxygen saturations.