[Cardiac function after radical correction of tetralogy of Fallot in infants]

A total of 20 patients (mean age 8.9 months) were examined after total correction of Fallot's tetralogy, 9 of them underwent transannular plasty and 11, separate right ventricular outflow tract plasty. Two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiographies were used to measure cardiac index, end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes, ejection fraction of the left and right ventricles, regurgitation fraction on the pulmonary and tricuspid valves, right ventricular-pulmonary artery pressure gradient. The study of the immediate postoperative period indicated that the pattern of its course was affected by the type of right ventricular outflow tract plasty, however, its function (ejection fraction) remained diminished in the periods up to 12 months of the operation. Pulmonary valve regurgitation was found to be one of the factors contributing to its diminution.