Secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) is the most common adult congenital heart defect and can present with wide variation in clinical findings. With the intention of preventing morbidity and mortality associated with late presentation of ASD, consensus guidelines have recommended surgical or percutaneous ASD closure in adults with right heart enlargement, with or without symptoms. The aim of the present analysis was to determine if the protective effect of secundum ASD closure in adults could be qualified by pooling data from published studies. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed by using EMBASE, MEDLINE (through PubMed), and the Cochrane Library databases to assess the effect of secundum ASD percutaneous or surgical closure in unoperated adults ≥18 years of age. Data were pooled across studies with the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model or a Bayesian meta-analysis model. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed with Cochran's Q test. Bias assessment was performed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool, and statistical risk of bias was assessed with Begg and Mazumdar's test and Egger's test. A total of 11 nonrandomized studies met the inclusion criteria, contributing 603 patients. Pooled analysis showed a protective effect of ASD closure on New York Heart Association functional class and on right ventricular systolic pressure, volumes, and dimensions. Two additional studies comprising 652 patients were reviewed separately for mortality outcome and primary outcome of interest because they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Those studies showed that ASD closure was associated with a weak protective effect on adjusted mortality rate but no significant impact on atrial arrhythmias in patients >50 years of age. Across all studies, there was significant heterogeneity between studies for nearly all clinical outcomes. The overall body of evidence was limited to observational cohort studies, the limitations of which make for low-strength evidence. Even within the parameters of the included studies, quality of evidence was further diminished by the lack of well-defined clinical outcomes. In conclusion, pooled data analysis on the impact of secundum ASD closure in adults was notably limited because of the lack of randomized controlled trials in patients with only secundum ASD. The few cohort studies in this population demonstrated improvement in functional status and right ventricular size and function as shown by echocardiogram. However, our findings suggest that at the time of this publication, insufficient data are available to determine the impact of ASD repair on mortality rate in adults.

Coronary embolism (CE) is the underlying cause of 3% of acute coronary syndromes but is frequently overlooked in the differential diagnoses of acute coronary syndromes. The CE may be direct (left sided from the native or prosthetic heart valve, the left atrium, left atrial appendage or pulmonary venous bed), paradoxical (from the venous circulation through a patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defects, cyanotic congenital heart defects or pulmonary arteriovenous malformations), or iatrogenic (following cardiac interventions. In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), left atrial appendage (LAA) ligation during mitral valve surgery has long been recommended to decrease the future risk of embolic events such as myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke. Recently, Aryana et al reported that in patients with AF who underwent surgical ligation of LAA, the presence of incomplete ligation was associated with a significantly higher risk of stroke/systemic embolization than complete ligation (24% vs 2%).

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most common birth defects (BDs) and account for nearly one-third of all BDs. The aim of this article was to investigate the epidemiology and major subtypes of CHDs in Hunan Province, China in the last 5 years.CHD surveillance data from 2012 to 2016 were collected from 52 registered hospitals in Hunan. The prevalence rates of CHDs, incidence rates of CHDs combined with other BDs, and rates of termination of pregnancy (TOP) for CHDs among different regions, infant sexes, and maternal ages were calculated for both early fetuses (<28 weeks of gestation) and perinatal infants (PIs) (between 28 weeks of gestation and 7 days after birth). Both the constituent ratio and prevalence rates were computed among subtypes.CHDs were found in 6289 out of 673,060 births. The overall prevalence was 93.44 per 10,000 PIs, with 19.27 and 74.17 per 10,000 in early fetuses and PIs, respectively. The risks of CHDs were higher in infants from urban areas than those from rural areas during the whole gestation and were higher in male infants than in female infants during the perinatal period. The total prevalence of CHDs increased significantly with maternal age (χ trend = 141.84, P < .05). Among fetuses in early gestation, there were 288 cases (22.21%) of CHDs combined with other BDs and 1292 cases (99.61%) of TOP for CHD. The 3 major subtypes of CHDs were ventricular septal defect (VSD) (22.06%), Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) (9.43%), and atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) (6.69%). Among PIs, there were 1541 cases (30.87%) of CHD diagnosed before delivery and 1184 cases (76.83%) were TOP. The 3 major subtypes were atrial septal defect (ASD) (42.81%), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) (16.07%), and VSDs (15.21%).The total prevalence of CHD in Hunan Province and the rate of TOP for CHD was high, especially for early-gestation fetuses. Pregnancies in urban women, male PIs, and maternal age were the risk factors for CHDs. Among early-gestation fetuses, the most common types were VSD, TOF, and ASD, and among PIs, the most common types were ASD, PDA, and VSD.