Pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum: a revised classification

Abstract

The dismal outlook for patients with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum may be related to associated right ventricular hypoplasia. Study of 32 autopsy specimens and 46 angiocardiograms of neonates with this lesion suggested that the cavitary hypoplasia was related to massive hypertrophy of the right ventricular wall. This hypertrophy was sufficient to obliterate the trabecular and/or infundibular portion of the ventricular cavity entirely in one-third of the cases; this observation forms the basis for a revised classification of these hearts. Three autopsies and 14 angiograms of neonates with critical pulmonary stenosis were examined. Hearts with obliterated infundibular and trabecular cavities had thicker walls and smaller tricuspid valves, as estimated angiographically or at autopsy, than those in which the normal three portions of the ventricular cavity were represented.