Two dimensional echocardiographic assessment of communications between ascending aorta and pulmonary trunk or individual pulmonary arteries.

The value of two dimensional echocardiography in identifying communications between the ascending aorta and pulmonary trunk or individual pulmonary arteries was assessed in 24 children, all of whom had either angiocardiographic and surgical or angiocardiographic confirmation alone. Fourteen cases had truncus arteriosus, four aortopulmonary window, four anomalous origin of the left pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta, and two anomalous origin of the right pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta. It was possible to identify reliably each individual abnormality with a combination of suprasternal, precordial, and subcostal cuts. Problems only arose in differentiating truncus arteriosus from pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect when the main pulmonary artery and infundibular region of the right ventricle were extremely hypoplastic.