FACTORS IN THE AeTIOLOGY OF ATRIAL SEPTAL DEFECT

Abstract

The relative importance of heredity and environment in causing malformation of the heart is still uncertain. We hoped that details about the families of our patients might provide some evidence to help in this problem. After a preliminary enquiry about the families of 384 patients, most of whom had Fallot's tetralogy (Polani and Campbell, 1955), we thought it would be more useful to make our enquiries in more homogeneous groups. So far, we have covered 261 patients with persistent ductus arteriosus (Polani and Campbell, 1960) and 151 patients with coarctation of the aorta (Campbell and Polani, 1961).