The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 83, 443-448, Copyright © 1982 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Common pulmonary vein atresia: Importance of immediate recognition and surgical intervention
S Khonsari, PW Saunders, MH Lees and A Starr
Common pulmonary vein atresia is a rare congenital anomaly; all four
pulmonary veins drain into a common dilated chamber with no direct
connections to the heart or systemic venous system. Since its first
description in 1962, 16 cases have been reported. Only four patients were
surgically managed and none survived. This communication presents the
seventeenth reported case of common pulmonary vein atresia and the only
patient whose anomaly was suspected early enough to demand immediate
surgical management, with gratifying long-term success. The literature on
the subject is reviewed and common features of the anomaly are emphasized
to facilitate precise diagnosis, so that a futile search for a nonexistent
communicating vein is avoided at the time of operation. This approach has
led to the first successful surgical management of this otherwise fatal
lesion.