The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 71, 572-580, Copyright © 1976 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Abnormalities of regional lung function associated with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary artery band
RM Sade, RG Williams, AR Castaneda and S Treves
Xenon-133 ventilation-perfusion scans and technetium-99m angiocardiograms
were performed 47 times in 34 patients. All patients had ventricular septal
defect (VSD), 17 with pulmonary artery band (PAB), 6 with isolated VSD, 4
with pulmonary valvar stenosis (PS), and 7 with transposition of the great
arteries (d-TGA), VSD, and PAB. Patients with VSD had slightly depressed
ventilation fraction of the left lung and slightly elevated perfusion
fraction of the left lung, both before and after closure of the VSD.
Patients with VSD and PAB had slightly depressed ventilation fraction of
the left lung but perfusion fraction of the left lung that was either
markedly elevated or markedly depressed. After closure of VSD and removal
of PAB the perfusion abnormality returned toward normal in some patients
but remained abnormal in most. The findings were similar in most patients
with d- TGA. Ventilation-perfusion ratio was nearly normal in patients with
VSD alone, both before and after closure of VSD. In patients with VSD with
PAB the severe abnormality of ventilation-perfusion ratio returned toward
normal after corrective operation but did not reach normal. There was no
abnormality of distribution of perfusion along the cephalocaudal axis of
the lung with the patient supine.
