title: Modified Blalock-Taussig shunt operation without cardiac catheterization: two-dimensional echocardiographic preoperative assessment in cyanotic infants.
abstract: Between May 1981 and December 1983, 25 infants with cyanotic congenital heart defects underwent 26 Blalock-Taussig shunt operations without cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography. In these infants, the diagnosis was established by 2-dimensional echocardiography (2-D echo) supplemented with clinical findings, chest x-ray and electrocardiography. The right and left pulmonary artery measurements, a prerequisite for a shunt operation, determined by 2-D echo were compared with those at surgery and had an excellent correlation (r = 0.94). No infant died as a consequence of an early shunt failure, and only 1 died of postoperative pyothorax. In conclusion, 2-D echo may eliminate the need for invasive investigation in selected patients undergoing the Blalock-Taussig anastomosis.
mesh_terms: D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D004452:Echocardiography; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D011666:Pulmonary Valve Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D013348:Subclavian Artery / Q000601:surgery*