Häufigkeit und Zeitpunkt der Diagnose von angeborenen Herzfehlern in der Praxis

The frequency of different forms of congenital heart disease was obtained from among a group of 1066 patients seen in a paediatric-cardiological out-patient clinic, the diagnosis being confirmed by cardiac catheterisation and (or) angiocardiography. Also recorded and analysed was the time the various defects, subsequently confirmed by other methods, were first diagnosed in an out-patient clinic. It became clear that cyanotic lesions and acyanotic ones with a large left to right shunt as well as additional pulmonary stenosis were diagnosed earlier than atrial septal defect, persistent ductus arteriosus, coarctation of the aorta, aortic stenosis or pulmonary stenosis--some of which were first noted by their murmur during examinations in the nursery school.