[Pathologic diagnosis of certain congenital heart defects]

Morphometrical examinations of 265 normally formed hearts collected at autopsies of infants under 2 years of age were used as a control of the heart weight and size of the pulmonary trunk and aorta. The time of anatomical closing of the arterial duct and oval window were established. Comparisons of the results of morphometry of normal and 173 malformed hearts with the tabulated data were used to develop objective criteria for pathological diagnosis of congenital heart diseases: open arterial duct and centrally located defect of the interatrial septum in infants dying within the first two months of life. The criteria for the detection of marginal forms of stenosis of the pulmonary trunk ostium and isolated coarctation of the aortal isthmus were established.