Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 August 2008
A retrospective study was undertaken of patients with hypoplastic right ventricles, either with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum or critical pulmonary valvar stenosis, and duct-dependent pulmonary blood flow who were investigated at the Royal Brompton Hospital between January 1976 and December 1990. The diagnosis was made on the basis of at least one diagnostic method (cross-sectional echocardiography, cardiac catheterization and angiography, or autopsy). Of the patients, 56 (82%) were found to have an imperforate pulmonary valve or infundibulum (pulmonary atresia), while 12(18%) had critical pulmonary valvar stenosis. The ratio of the diameters of the tricuspid and mitral valvar orifices was measured angiographically during diastole, and the right ventricle was analyzed according to the presence or overgrowth of the inlet, apical trabecular and outlet components. A correlation was made between the severity of the disease and the outcome. The overall mortality was 53% when those not undergoing any surgery were excluded, and significant differences were found between the group dying and those who survived. The incremental risk factors for death were a ratio between the diameter of the tricuspid and mitral valves of less than 0.6; the presence of fistulous communications with the coronary arteries; and obliteration of the apical trabecular component of the right ventricle. There was no significant difference between the group with pulmonary valvar atresia and the group with critical stenosis of the pulmonary valve.