The plain chest radiograph in infants with an isolated ventricular septal defect.
The plain chest radiographic features of 43 infants with a ventricular septal defect are described. All were under 1 year of age, and cardiac catheter studies confirmed that they had an isolated ventricular septal defect (VSD), so that the RV pressure, size of the shunt and the pulmonary vascular resistance could be related to the radiographic appearances. The radiographs of a number of normal infants of similar age were available for comparison. Four patterns were seen in those with a VSD. In group 1 the radiograph appeared normal. In group 2 there was dilatation of the pulmonary artery and the proximal lung vessels, while in group 3 only the proximal lung vessels were dilated. In group 4 only some of the hilar and proximal lung vessles were dilated, so that the blood distribution appeared uneven.
D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D006345:Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011859:Radiography