[Correction of tetralogy of Fallot and its influence to oxygen transport and lung changes. Part II: Lung changes...

22 children got lung scans 3 weeks respectively 12 months after the correction of a tetralogy of Fallot. In 18 cases previous operations were done: 12 times a Blalock-Taussig shunt and 6 times a Brock procedure. For the scan 20-70 mu diameter albumin macrospheres were used, which were labeled with Technetium 99m. The following pathologicla lung changes were seen: 1. Loss of perfusion, typical after Blalock-Taussig shunt procedure; these findings were always on the left side, the site of the anastomosis. 2. Anomalous flow distrubution (=more spheres in the upper than in the lower lobe) in the left lung; these changes were also caused by the Blalock-Taussing shunts, but disappeared within the one year follow-up after the correction. 3. Intrapulmonary rigt-left shunts (according to the dilatation of the alveolar capillaries). These decreased within one year from 9.9+/-1.3 to 4.6+/-0.9%.