The pediatric spectrum of dynamic left ventricular obstruction.

Twenty-one pediatric patients with echocardiographic and/or hemodynamic evidence of dynamic left ventricular obstruction are presented in order to examine the pathophysiologic mechanisms of this disorder. Neonates commonly had transient hypertrophic cardiomyopathy related to hypertension or to being infants of diabetic mothers. Infants with D-transposition of the great arteries sometimes developed signs of subpulmonic dynamic obstruction.

Prophylactic use of intra-aortic ballon pump in aortocoronary bypass for patients with left main coronary artery disease.

Aortocoronary bypass surgery in patients with left main coronary artery disease is reported to have an operative mortality of between 1.4 and 39%. It is generally accepted that the operative mortality in this group of patients is considerably greater than in routine bypass candidates, presumably due to the large amount of myocardium threatened by a single lesion.