[The importance of studying 11-HCS in determining the optimal times for the correction of congenital heart defects].

The hormonal reaction of the adrenal cortex to growing physical exercise was studied in 42 patients with congenital heart diseases and 54 healthy persons. The age of the people under examination was from 7 to 35 years. It was found that in response to submaximal physical exercise a reliable drop of glucocorticoid activity of the adrenals takes place in patients as early as at the period of the second childhood. It is observed not only in people with light hypertension but also in those with relatively favourable course of the disease. These findings evidence to early correction of the defect.