Perinatal asphyxia and cardiac abnormalities

Abstract

The most common etiologies of myocardial infarction in the perinatal period are congenital heart disease, coronary artery lesions, thromboembolism and perinatal asphyxia. Cardiac abnormalities in perinatal asphyxia include tricuspid regurgitation and mitral regurgitation associated with transient myocardial ischemia of the newborn. Patent foramen ovale is a frequent remnant of the fetal circulation. Persistent hypoxia sometimes causes pulmonary arterial hypertension with consequent right to left shunt across patent ductus arteriosus and foramen ovale. We describe a case of tricuspid regurgitation, mitral regurgitation, and patent foramen ovale in a 15-day-old newborn male infant with a history of perinatal asphyxia. Also this case focuses attention on the perinatal asphyxia.