title: The Gerbode defect - a frequent echocardiographic pitfall.
abstract: We present a case of Gerbode type defect (left ventricular to right atrial communication) discovered in a 52 year-old man  with atrial and ventricular septal defects. The patient was diagnosed using two-dimensional colour Doppler and transoesophageal  echocardiography. We describe the echocardiographic features and review the anatomical consequences of such  defects. Our aim was to remind readers about this rare organic heart disease that an inexperienced echocardiography specialist  might easily mistake for a recoil wave of tricuspid valve incompetence and thus diagnose pulmonary hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Cardiology Department, Province Hospital, Szczecin, Poland. piotr.gosciniak@life.pl
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gościniak
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Larysz
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baraniak
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Józwa
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Żych
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mokrzycki
authors.forename: Mirosław
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brykczyński
mesh_terms: D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006322:Heart Aneurysm / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006345:Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*