[Clinical long-term results after corrective surgery of tetralogy of Fallot].

We studied 246 consecutive patients, mean age 11.9 +/- 6.7 years, with primary (n = 155) or secondary (n = 91) complete repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) between 1961 and 1972.

[Doppler echocardiography analysis of left ventricular inflow patterns in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy pre- and postoperatively].

The aim of the present study was to assess abnormalities of left ventricular filling by Doppler echocardiography in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and to investigate whether a myectomy, in addition to normalizing flow, also improves diastolic function. In part A of the study, 40 patients with diagnosed invasive HOCM (29 patients with a gradient at rest, 11 patients with a gradient only after provocation) were compared with 20 normal subjects. The blood flow in the left ventricular inflow tract was examined by means of Doppler echocardiography.

The natural history of aortic valve stenosis.

Despite different aetiologies, acquired aortic stenosis is a self-maintaining, slowly progressive process with good long-term prognosis. In 142 patients with mild stenosis, there was clinical progression within 10 years of the initial diagnosis in only 12% of patients. Twenty-five years after the diagnosis had been established, the severity of aortic stenosis was clinically unchanged in 38%, while 25% of patients had moderate stenosis and 35% had undergone valve replacement.

[Prosthesis endocarditis: incidence, diagnosis, therapeutic decisions and prognosis].

In 2711 patients with heart valve replacement performed between 1965 and 1986 the cumulative incidence of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) was 1.19 +/- 0.24% (n = 61).