ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF CRITICAL HEART DISEASE IN NEONATE

Echocardiograms were recorded in 35 neonates with congenital heart disease who had respiratory distress, severe cyanosis or heart murmur in early neonatal period, 5 physically normal newborn infants and 4 with idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome.Examinations were performed to detect the relationship between the aorta and the pulmonary artery, the tricuspid valve and the Ynitral valve, and the continuity between the atrio-ventricular valve and the semilunar valve and the presence of the ventricular or the atrial septum by a sector scanning method of the echocardiography, and in almost all cases an accurate diagnosis was made before the cardiac catheterization.We were convinced that the echocardiographic technique was available to identify these structural abnormalities and to recognize the relationship of the great vessels and those of the atrio-ventricular valves. Since this new technique is rapid and noninvasive, this method should be indicated for the neonate with severe cardio-pulmonary syndrome to diagnose the accurate cardiac anomalies or to differentiate from other lesions.