A clinical and haemodynamic study of ventricular septal defect in infants.

The concept of ventricular septal defect as a disease of little severity (Roger, 1879; Brown, 1950), has been upset by the observations of Marquis (1950) and Engle (1954). The median age at death in Abbott's (1951) cases was 141 years; however, in common with others, we have observed severe disability and death in many younger children. The advent of surgical therapy for this defect (Lillehei, Cohen, Warden, Ziegler and Varco, 1955), and the desirability of correction at an early age make it worth while to review the clinical features in the earliest age group. The haemodynamic findings will be given in some detail.