Evaluation of Atrial and Ventricular Septal Defects with Real-Time Three-Dimensional Echocardiography: Current Status and Literature Review

Within this report we present a state of the art assessment of the status of 3D echocardiographic imaging (3D echo) of atrial septal defect (ASD) and ventricular septal defect (VSD). After a brief literature review of past studies, we delve into more recent developments in greater detail. For ASD we focus on new developments and reports regarding real-time transesophageal echocardiography. For VSD there have been no recent reports in the last 2 years dealing with new advances in 3D echo of VSD by either transthoracic or transesophageal approaches. Therefore, we present our experience in 3D echo of VSD by both methods. The literature is far from replete on this subject; therefore, a significant portion of this report is based on the authors’ personal experience using 3D echo in over 200 cases with ASD, VSD, or both lesions in children and adults. A collection of representative reference 3D echoes of ASD and VSD are presented to serve as a review of the anatomic variations which the echocardiographer and sonographer are likely to encounter.