[Pulmonary perfusion and ventilation scintigraphies before and after cardiac catheterization in infants with congenital heart diseases].

We performed 99mTc-MAA pulmonary perfusion scintigraphies before and after catheterization of 50 infants with congenital heart disease. 81mKr ventilation scintigraphies were also performed in 41 patients. Both right and left heart catheterization (23 patients) and right heart catheterization (27 patients) were performed by Seldinger's method. Pulmonary perfusion scintigraphies showed new perfusion defects in 6 patients (12%) following catheterization. Of six patients, three had ventilation defects. Clinical characteristics, duration of catheterization, hemodynamic variables were not significantly different between patients with and without lung perfusion defects. The lung perfusion defects seemed to be due to pulmonary embolism following cardiac catheterization.