Congenital Stenosis of the Pulmonary Artery Branches.

CONGENITAL stenosis of the pulmonary artery branches is an anomaly characterized by narrowed segments of one or more of the main or peripheral branches of the pulmonary artery. Such conditions lhave been variously labeled pulmonary coaretation,' peripheral pulmonary stenosis,2 and multiple peripheral stenoses 3 of the pulmonary artery. Several cases of this anomaly have appeared in the literature 1-17 since its first description by Oppenheimer4 in 1938. The problems produced by stenosis of the branches of the pulmonary artery are related to diagnosis and to the difficulties that they may present in the correction of associated cardiovascular defects. It is the purpose of this paper to review our experience with 18 cases of steniosis of the pulmonary artery branches (cases 1 to 18) encountered at the Mayo Clinic with particular regard for diagnosis in the presence of infundibular or valvular pulmonary stenosis and for the role of branch stenosis in the surgical therapy of associated cardiovascular abnormalities.