Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffMild forms of Ebstein's anomaly may not cause symptoms until later in adulthood. Even some people with very abnormal valves may have minimal, if any, problems. Ebstein's anomaly symptoms may develop slowly over many years and include:
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue, especially with exertion
- Leg swelling
- Heart palpitations or abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias)
- A bluish discoloration of the lips and skin caused by low oxygen (cyanosis)
Newborns and infants who are diagnosed with Ebstein's anomaly usually show signs of cyanosis early, in addition to signs and symptoms of heart failure. When signs and symptoms appear at such a young age, this usually indicates a severe defect that requires treatment.
Older children may show signs of heart failure, such as tiring easily or becoming short of breath during play. Their other symptoms may include heart pounding or racing or cyanosis, especially around the lips and fingertips.
When to see a doctor
If you or your child has signs or symptoms of heart failure — such as feeling easily fatigued or short of breath, even with normal activity — or is showing blue skin coloration around the lips and nails (cyanosis), talk to your doctor. He or she may refer you to a doctor who specializes in heart disease (cardiologist).
- Attenhofer Jost CH, et al. Ebstein's anomaly. Circulation. 2007;115(2):277-285.
- Pflaumer A, et al. Symptomatic neonates with Ebstein anomaly. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2004;127(4):1208-1209.
- Kapusta L, et al. Ebstein's anomaly: Factors associated with death in childhood and adolescence: A multi-centre, long-term study. European Heart Journal. 2007;28(21):2661-2666.
- Brown ML, et al. Functional status after operation for Ebstein anomaly: The Mayo Clinic experience. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2008;52(6):460-466.
- Chen JM, et al. Early and medium-term results for repair of Ebstein anomaly. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2004;127(4):990-999.
- Palmen M. Long-term follow-up after repair of Ebstein's anomaly. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. 2008;34(1):48-54.
- Agarwala BN, et al. Ebstein's anomaly of the tricuspid valve. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Sept. 29, 2008.
- Ebstein's anomaly. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11075. Accessed Oct. 2, 2008.
