title: Cardiac malformations in relatives of infants with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome.
abstract: In a pilot study of relatives of infants with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome (HLHS), we obtained a medical history, cardiovascular examination, and echocardiogram in 48 first-degree relatives of 11 probands with isolated HLHS and 3 with HLHS and noncardiac malformations. Echocardiography confirmed heart defects in 5 of 41 relatives of patients with isolated HLHS. In four instances, the cardiac abnormality was unrecognized. Among 7 relatives of infants with HLHS and extracardiac anomalies, no heart defects were detected. Cardiac defects occurred in first-degree relatives of probands at a frequency higher than previously predicted by an additive multifactorial model of inheritance. These findings suggest that first-degree relatives of HLHS probands may have an increased risk for subclinical cardiac defects and that genetic factors likely contribute to the cause of left-heart blood-flow lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland, Baltimore.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Boughman
mesh_terms: D005190:Family; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D010865:Pilot Projects