Search results

Previous work has shown the positive correlation of echocardiographic right ventricular preejection period/right ventricular ejection time ratio (RPEP/RVET) with pulmonary vascular resistance and pulmonary arterial diastolic pressure obtained at cardiac catheterization. However, the correlation was insufficient to predict pulmonary arterial diastolic pressure or vascular resistance from a given RPEP/RVET ratio. In this study the RPEP/RVET ratio was compared with left ventricular preejection period/ejection time ratio (LVEP/LVET) in 25 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization, and a strong correlation was found between the ratio (RPEP/RVET)/(LPEP/LVET) = R/L and the ratio of pulmonary arteriolar resistance/systemic arteriolar resistance (PAR/RS), especially when R/L was correlated with log10PAR/RS (r = 0.902). A very high correlation...

Total correction of tetralogy of Fallot was carried out in 215 patients from 1957 through mid-1967. Twenty-eight patients died during the period of hospitalization following the operation, and 5 died later. The operative mortality rate declined steadily throughout the period, reaching 2.2 per cent in the last 22 months. The major factors determining the outcome of surgical treatment were the age of the patient, the severity of the cardiac deformities, the beneficial effects of a prior systemic-pulmonary shunt, associated cardiac lesions, and the surgical technic.Total correction between the ages of 6 and 14 carries the most favorable prognosis. When young patients are severely cyanotic, it is better to establish a palliative systemic-pulmonary artery shunt, preferably by the Blalock-Taussig technic, and subsequently carry out the total...