Revelation of an asymptomatic ventricular septal defect in elderly patient before a surgical intervention

Certain congenital cardiac defects may go undetected for several years due to lack of symptoms and signs. The natural history of ventricular septal defects depends on the size of the defect and on the pulmonary resistance. In adults congenital heart disease, ventricular septal defects represent about 10% of the cases. However, the finding of a ventricular septal defect in an elderly individual >80 years of age is extremely uncommon and only two cases have been reported in a living patient, as an accidental finding. We describe a case of an asymptomatic ventricular septal defect associated with interventricular septal hypertrophy, aortic regurgitation, mitral stenosis and regurgitation in an 83-year-old Italian man before a surgical treatment for inguinal hernia repair. To our knowledge, this is the third report of a ventricular septal defect in a living elderly individual >80 years of age.