Ventricular septal defect with aortic insufficiency.

THE RECENT advancement of cardiac surgery with the use of whole-body perfusion makes necessary an accurate anatomic diagnosis not only of the chief cardiac malformations for which the surgical procedure may be undertaken but of associated defects as well. The problems of diagnosis and surgieal management of the combination of a defeet of the intraventricular septum and aortic incompetence have been reported. This paper reports the clinical features and hemodynamic findings in 18 cases of aortic insufficiency with ventricular septal defect. In nine of these infundibular stenosis of the right ventricular outflow tract was present too (fig. 1). In eight of these, surgical relief of the obstruction to the right ventricular outflow tract also was carried out. Anatomic descriptioii was available in all cases. In 17 this inforniation was obtained at operation and in two of these 17 at necropsy also. One patient who died the day followinog cardiac catheterization was studied post mortem.