ATRESIA OF THE COMMON PULMONARY VEIN

Abstract

Among the causes of pulmonary venous obstruction is atresia of the common pulmonary vein. This entity is described in three patients. The anatomic abnormality in these patients was the absence of any functional connection between the pulmonary veins and the left atrium, and anomalous pulmonary venous connection in the usual sense was not present. The results of the severe pulmonary venous obstruction imposed by this abnormality are reflected clinically in severe cyanosis, congestive cardiac failure, and early death. Roentgenograms revealed the diffuse reticular pattern in the pulmonary fields associated with pulmonary venous obstruction. Angiocardiographic techniques permit anatomic diagnosis of this cardiac abnormality and allow its differentiation from the other cardiac abnormalities responsible for pulmonary venous obstruction. Because the cul-de-sac-like confluence of the pulmonary veins is of ample size and lies immediately behind the left atrium, surgical relief of this condition seems possible.