Eighteen patients with moderate to severe pulmonary hypertension were studied, nine with intracardiac shunts and nine without. The effects of an incremental infusion of epoprostenol (prostacyclin) (0.5-8 ng/kg per minute) or sublingual nifedipine (20-30 mg) were compared with the response to three months' treatment with oral nifedipine. Both epoprostenol and sublingual nifedipine caused a fall ...

Bronchiectasis is characterized by the abnormal and permanent dilatation of bronchi. Clinical manifestations of bronchiectasis include persistent or recurrent cough, purulent sputum, hemosputum, and hemoptysis. A 75-year-old man with bronchiectasis required coronary bypass grafting for unstable angina pectoris with severe stenosis of the left main trunk. Computed tomography showed fistulae betw...

Formalin infiltration of the ductus arteriosus was performed in 13 neonates with pulmonary atresia (three with ventricular septal defect, two with tricuspid atresia, and eight with intact ventricular septum, one of whom had Ebstein's anomaly) in an attempt to maintain duct patency. Nine patients had an additional retrograde pulmonary valvotomy and one a Blalock-Taussig shunt. The mean preoperat...

Patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome undergo a series of operations to separate the pulmonary and systemic circulations. The first of at least 3 operations occurs in the newborn period, with a stage I palliation. The goal of stage I palliation is to provide pulmonary blood flow and create an unobstructed systemic outflow tract. Advances in surgical techniques and intraoperative and pos...

When most of the centers in India do not entertain the patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the original authors of the article in the present issue should be congratulated for the attempt of treating this patient with hybrid procedure. It’s a spectacular beginning. The development of staged reconstructive surgery for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) by Norwood and colleagues in...

Since 1983 percutaneous balloon dilatation of the right ventricular outflow tract has been performed as an alternative to surgical palliation in selected cases of tetralogy of Fallot at the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital. From 31 December 1984 to 31 December 1988, 27 of these patients underwent subsequent surgical correction. Age at operation ranged from 7 to 58 months (median 2.7 years). ...

OBJECTIVE Hypoplastic left heart syndrome remains a challenge for worldwide surgeons. Initial palliation employing bilateral pulmonary artery banding along with ductal stent implantation and atrial septostomy has been proposed as an alternative approach. However, the surgically placed bands are fixed and may become inadequate after sternum closure or with somatic growth of the patient. We descr...