Abstract
Congenital or acquired communication between the left ventricle and the right atrium is known as the Gerbode defect, which is rarely diagnosed since the defect is very unusual and for this reason often misinterpreted as an eccentric tricuspid regurgitation jet.The entity and reason of the defect is unknown to many physicians, so that profound knowledge and a careful and meticulous echocardiogram are necessary in order to prevent misinterpretation of this defect as a pulmonary hypertension.We report the case of a 76-year-old Austrian woman who developed such a Gerbode defect after a recent bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement.
Highlights
The causes for new occurrence of dyspnoea are manifold
All perimembranous defects are beneath the aortic valve
The membranous septum is separated into two parts according to the insertion of the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve: one atrioventricular and one interventricular component
Summary
The causes for new occurrence of dyspnoea are manifold. especially cardiologists are confronted with echocardiographic findings more and more often, which are not common in routine daily work – on the one hand due to the increasing age of the population and the associated increasingly recurring cardiac defects which often require surgery and on the other hand due to successfully remediated congenital cardiac defects originated in the early childhood with normal expectancy of life.We report the case of a patient who early after aortic valve replacement felt recurring dyspnoea and showed signs of cardiac decompensation.Case presentation A 76-year-old Austrian woman with recent bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement presented herself with recurring progressive dyspnoea (NYHA III).She had been operated half a year ago because of a hemodynamically relevant stenosis of the tricuspid aortic valve. We report the case of a patient who early after aortic valve replacement felt recurring dyspnoea and showed signs of cardiac decompensation. A high-velocity systolic jet just below the aortic valve was noticed entering the right atrium (RA), which was initially mistaken for tricuspid regurgitation (Figure 1).
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