Surgical Closure of an Aortic Septal Defect

Abstract

Occurring just above the aortic and pulmonic valves, an aortic-pulmonary artery communication gives a left-right shunt which may be indistinguishable by clinical findings from a patent ductus arteriosus. Under some circumstances it is possible to identify the lesion by retrograde aortography. Because of increase in cardiac work, the shunt can produce cardiac strain. Whether or not the communication can be closed surgically depends upon the size of the opening and its distance above the coronary arteries. A case is here reported in which an aortic-pulmonary artery communication has been closed surgically.