CONGENITAL DILATATION OF THE PULMONARY ARTERIAL TREE

Abstract

AS A single lesion, unaccompanied by other developmental anomalies, congenital dilatation of the pulmonary artery appears to be an extremely rare condition. For convenience, the occurrence of this solitary congenital malformation of the pulmonary artery will be referred to throughout the remainder of this paper as congenital dilatation of the pulmonary arterial tree. Several cases have been described, but many of these were reported on the basis of clinical diagnosis without pathologic reports, and others do not meet the criteria which I consider correct for isolated congenital dilatation. These criteria are (a) dilatation of the entire pulmonary arterial tree with or without sclerosis; (b) hypoplasia of the aorta; (c) the absence of other congenital anomalies, such as patent ductus arteriosus or patent interauricular septum, and (d) the absence of other primary disease of the heart or lungs and of primary arterial disease such as rheumatism or syphilis. When these criteria