Study of the infradiaphragmatic total anomalous pulmonary venous connection with cross-sectional and pulsed Doppler echocardiography.

We studied neonates with the infradiaphragmatic form of total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage by a combination of cross-sectional echocardiography and pulsed Doppler ultrasound. The diagnosis by ultrasound was made prospectively in all six patients. Three large vascular channels could be observed passing through the diaphragm from the subcostal parasagittal plane. The vessels were identified as the descending aorta (to the left), the inferior vena cava (to the right), and the anomalous pulmonary venous channel (in the center). The vessels were insonated in turn, with pulsed Doppler ultrasound, and the characteristic normal flow signals in the aorta and inferior vena cava were obtained. The signal from the anomalous pulmonary vein was a continuous venous signal, the direction of flow being away from the heart. Pulsed Doppler ultrasound allows accurate recognition of the anomalous pulmonary venous channel without the use of contrast echocardiography.