Abstract
Background :To assess the accuracy of Electron-Beam Tomography(EBT) in following evaluation of the pulmonary vascular system after a shunt operation in the cyanotic con-genital heart disease with pulmonary stenosis or pulmonary atresia. Material and Method : Sixteen patients(M:F=11:5) who received Blalock-Taussig(n=8) bidirectional cavo-pulmonary shunt(n=10) and unifocalization (n=2) were ncluded in the study. We evaluated the patency of the shunt the morphology of intrapericardial and hilar pulmonary arteries(PA) peripheral pulmonary vascularity by background lung attenuation and the abundance of arterial & venous collateral. Angiography(n=12) and echocardiography(n=20) were used as the gold standard for the comparison of EBT results. Result: EBT was consistent with angiogram/ echo in 100% of the evaluation for the patency of the shunt and in 12(by angiogram 100%) and 19(by echo 95%) for the detection the hypoplasia stenosis or interruption of central PA In measuring of PA EBT and angiogram corrlated(r=0.91) better than EBT-echo(r=0.88) or echo-angiogram(r=0.72) Abundant systemic arterial collateral were noted in 4 and venous collateral in 3 cases. In evaluating the peripheral pulmonary vascularity the homogenous and normal-ranged lung attenuation(m=6) decreased but homo-genous attenuation(n=1) segment-by-sgment heterogeneous attenuation(n=3) homogenous but asymmetrical attenuation(n=3) segment-by-segment heterogeneous attenuation(n=3) homogenous but asymmetrical attenuation(n=3) and venous congestion(n=2) were observed nd 12 of them were compatible with the blood flow pattern revealed by cardiac catheterization. Conclusion: EBT was accurate in the integrated evaluation of the pulmonary vascular system after the shunt including the patency of the shunt operaion the morphology and dimension of the central and hilar PAs and the loco-regional pulmonary flow in the lung parenchyma. It suggests the useful information about the need of secondary shunt operation the proper timing time for total repair and the need of interventional procedure prior to total repair.