Abstract
The sizes of the great arteries in patients with ventricular septal defect were studied and their correlations with hemodynamic data and surgical results were discussed.
Intimate correlations could be found between pulmonary-to-systemic systolic pressure ratio and cross sectional area of the pulmonary artery or aorta-to-pulmonary artery diameter ratio.
The ascending aorta was found absolutely hypoplastic in some cases with hyperkinetic pulmonary hypertension. In patients with increased pulmonary vascular resistance, the ascending aorta was not so hypoplastic as in hyperkinetic group.
As patients with the hypoplastic aorta frequently showed fatal low cardiac output syndrome in the early postoperative period, such cases should be excluded from candidates for open heart surgery by preoperative angiocardiographic examination.
