Two-dimensional echocardiography in the pre- and postoperative management of totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection

Department of Cardiology, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.

The records of 23 infants who underwent surgical repair of isolated totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection were reviewed to assess the accuracy of pre- and postoperative echocardiographic diagnoses. Preoperative echocardiographic diagnoses were accurate in 22 of 23 patients, including the sites of connection of the individual pulmonary veins. Cardiac catheterization in 13 patients confirmed the echocardiographic findings. Analysis of multiple pre- and postoperative variables revealed no statistically significant difference between the infants with and without catheterization, although there was a tendency toward a higher mortality rate in the catheterized group. Postoperative echocardiographic examination revealed obstruction to pulmonary venous return in 7 of 19 patients. Catheterization confirmed the echocardiographic findings, localizing the obstruction in one patient. The size of the venoatrial anastomosis was measured on postoperative echocardiograms performed on 14 patients. The cross-sectional area of the anastomosis was less than 0.3 cm2/m2 of body surface area in the four patients with obstruction of the anastomosis, and greater than 0.95 cm2/m2 in all long-term survivors examined. Two-dimensional echocardiography with pulsed Doppler examination and Doppler color flow mapping is an excellent means of diagnosing totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection. The connections of the individual pulmonary veins can be identified in nearly all cases. Surgical repair can usually be undertaken on the basis of echocardiographic diagnosis alone. Echocardiography also provides an extremely accurate method of evaluating surgical repair and of identifying and localizing postoperative obstruction to pulmonary venous return.

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