Cardiac findings in 31 patients with Noonan's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate cardiac findings in 31 Noonan syndrome patients. METHODS Thirty-one (18 males and 13 females)patients from 26 families affected with Noonan's syndrome were evaluated from the cardiac point of view with electrocardiography and Doppler echocardiography. RESULTS Twenty patients had some type of cardiac abnormality. The most frequent was pulmonary valve stenosis followed by hypertrophic myocardiopathy, commonly associated with valve defects. Upper deviation of the QRS axis was observed in 80% of these patients. CONCLUSION In view of the high frequency and diversity of cardiac abnormalities present in Noonan syndrome, cardiac evaluation with electrocardiography and echocardiography should be performed in all patients diagnostically suspected of having this disease.