[Two-dimensional echocardiography to evaluate anomalies of the great arteries (author's transl)]

Two dimensional Echocardiography was employed to study 51 subjects with complex anomalies of the great arteries. Within a short period of time, they underwent also angiographic investigations and corrective surgery. The investigation was performed orienting the transducer according to two approaches. --Short-axis view: at the level of the origin of the great arteries, and from the basis of the ventricular septum. --Long-axis view: along the longitudinal axis of the heart. In all cases two dimensional Echocardiography could clarify the mutual interrelation of the great arteries, according to the classification by de La Cruz, and the relation between the great arteries and the ventricular septum. Only in two cases, where the dimensions of the ventricular septal defect were particularly large, the position of the great arteries relative to the septum itself could not be assessed.