Congenital absence of the right pulmonary artery--a case report and review.

Congenital absence of one of the pulmonary arteries not accompanied by other congenital heart disease is rare. Less than 90 cases have been reported since Fräntzel noted the first case in 1868 (5). In Japan, Osano first reported a case of an 11-year old boy with unilateral absence of the right pulmonary artery (8). This is a report of a case of an 8-month-old girl in whom initial diagnosis of absence of the right pulmonary artery was made by investigation of plain chest X-ray film, and the final diagnosis was made by cardiac catheterization. The problems of etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of absence of a pulmonary artery are reviewed.