@Article{chd.12528,
AUTHOR = {Alberto Cresti, Raffaele Giordano, Martin Koestenberger, Isabella Spadoni, Marco Scalese, Ugo Limbruno, Susanna Falorini, Stefania Stefanelli, Andrea Picchi, Francesco De Sensi, Angela Malandrino, Massimiliano Cantinotti},
TITLE = {Incidence and natural history of neonatal isolated ventricular septal defects: Do we know everything? A 6-year single-center Italian experience follow-up},
JOURNAL = {Structural and Congenital Heart Disease},
VOLUME = {13},
YEAR = {2018},
NUMBER = {1},
PAGES = {105--112},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/schd/v13n1/38938},
ISSN = {3071-1738},
ABSTRACT = {<b>Background:</b> Despite ventricular septal defects (VSDs) are the most common congenital heart
diseases (CHDs) in the neonatal period, their incidence and natural history are still debated and
their follow-up and management strategies remain controversial. Our aim was to evaluate the incidence and natural history of isolated VSDs.<br/>
<b>Methods:</b> From January 1996 to December 2015 all neonates with a CHD suspicion were
referred to the Cardiological Department of Grosseto Misericordia Hospital. Only newborns with
confirmed isolated VSD were enrolled in this study and followed for 6 years.<br/>
<b>Results:</b> Our 343 newborns with an isolated VSD (incidence of 10.45/1000/births) account for
64% of all detected CHDs. VSDs location were as follows: muscular (73.8%), perimembranous
(11.3%), inlet (1%), and outlet (0.8%). Of the located VSDs, 90% were small, 7.5% moderate, and
2.5% large, respectively. Spontaneous closure was observed in 96 (29.2%) of the VSD patients at
6-month, 198 (60.2%) at 1-year, 261 (79.3%) at 2-year, and in 302 (91.8%) at 6-year follow-up.
Risk factors for defect persistence were a perimembranous location (P = .001; HR: 0.508, CI:
0.342-0.755), detection of multiple defects (P = .043; HR: 0.728, CI: 0.536-0.990), and male gender (P < .048; HR: 0.783, CI: 0.615-0.998), respectively.<br/>
<b>Conclusions:</b> We here provide an incidence and natural history of neonatal isolated VSDs in a
neonatal Caucasian population. These data may be useful for the development of expert consensus/standard recommendation guidelines for the follow-up and VSD management, data that are
currently lacking.},
DOI = {10.1111/chd.12528}
}