[Persistent truncus arteriosus. Echocardiographic study of 8 cases]

Eight patients (4 male, 4 female) with persistent truncs arteriosus diagnosed by two-dimensional echocardiography are presented. Age ranged from 1 to 19 days. Diagnosis was based on the demonstration of a single vessel giving rise to the aorta, pulmonary arteries and coronary circulation. In 6 patients we were able to define the types of the truncus: in 4 patients corresponded to type I (with partial presence of aorto-pulmonary septum) and in 2 cases corresponded to type II (without existence of septum). All cases had a dilated truncus (1.13 +/- 0.06 cm, range 1.05-1.3 cm), with moderate overriding (52% range 30%-65%) and an infundibular ventricular septal defect (0.6 +/- 0.08 cm, range 0.45-0.85 cm). In 2 cases we could also demonstrate the presence of an interruption of the aortic aorta. We conclude that two-dimensional echocardiography (specially parasternal long-short axis views and subcostal for right or leftout flow tracts axis views) gives sufficient information about this cardiac malformation, which can be completed by the use of pulsed Doppler ultrasound.