Congenital cardiovascular malformations in Chinese children with Down's syndrome.

149 Chinese children (70 boys, 79 girls) with Down's syndrome and congenital heart disease were studied. Diagnosis of the cardiac abnormality was made by cardiac catheterisation in 119, two-dimensional echocardiography in 23 and autopsy in 7. The commonest lesion was ventricular septal defect which was present in 43.6%, a higher frequency than that reported in Caucasians. Other common lesions included atrioventricular septal defect (15.4%), atrial septal defect (13.4%), tetralogy in Fallot (13.4%) and patent ductus arteriosus (12.1%). Multiple lesions occurred in 36% of the cases, with patent ductus arteriosus, the most frequent coexisting lesion. Other cyanotic congenital heart conditions were very rare and coarctation of aorta was not seen. An aberrant right subclavian artery arising from the descending aorta was present in 16.5% and abnormalities of the radial artery at the wrist were found in 19%. The literature on patterns of congenital heart diseases seen in Down's syndrome was reviewed.