ABSTRACT
Objective: To summarize the different cardiac shunt presentation in right heart contrast echocardiography and to clarify its clinical value for diagnosing the patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 102 patients who received right heart contrast echocardiography in our hospital from 2006 to 2014. The contrast media was the hand-vibrated mixture of 9 ml 50% glucose solution with 1 ml air. Results: There were 49/102 patients with abnormal blood shunt detected including 8 patients of atrial septal defect (ASD) with right to left or dual shunt, 7 of ASD with left to right shunt, 9 of patent foramen ovale (PFO) with functional right to left shunt, 13 of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) combining pulmonary arterial hypertension, 3 of pulmonary arteriovenous ifstula (PAVF), 9 patients with persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) and 8 of them drain to coronary vein sinus, 1 drain to left atrium. Conclusion: Right heart contrast echocardiography may simply and effectively detect abnormal blood shunt in patients combining pulmonary arterial hypertension and improve the diagnostic accuracy of CHD.