A Gerbode defect is a ventricular septal defect communicating directly between the left ventricle and right atrium. There has been some debate about the existence of such an entity. We present the case of a previously healthy 15-year-old boy who developed bacterial endocarditis following ear piercing and was subsequently found to have a defect between the left ventricle and right atrium, which was successfully repaired surgically.

The cases of 110 infants less than 1 year of age, who had surgical repair for coarctation of the aorta between June 1974 and February 1988, were analysed. Three groups of patients were identified. In group 1 there were 39 patients with isolated coarctation. In group 2 there were 25 infants with additional ventricular septal defects (VSD), while in group 3 there were 46 infants with other associated congenital cardiac defects. Repair was performed using the subclavian flap aortoplasty (SFA) procedure in 83 patients, resection with end-to-end anastomosis (EEA) in 23, patch aortoplasty in 3 and Goretex tube bypass in 1. Twenty-eight patients had simultaneous pulmonary artery banding and one concomitant closure of the VSD. The overall early mortality rate was 8.2% (5.1% in group 1, 0% in group 2, and 15.2% in group 3). Age at operation (under 1 month, p = 0.04) and other associated cardiac anomalies (p = 0.03) increased early mortality significantly. There were 11 late deaths (10.8%) among 101 patients followed from 1 to 15 years (mean 5.3 years). Twelve patients underwent further surgery for recoarctation, eight of them within 11 months. A further 11 patients currently have a Doppler gradient across their coarctation site of more than 20 mmHg, but have not undergone further surgery to the coarctation repair site.

Twenty-two cases of diaphragmatic hernia, presenting from 1978 to 1982, were reviewed. Sixteen patients presented before 24 hours of life, of whom nine survived (56%). Six were late presenters who all did well. Seven babies had ten documented episodes of persistent foetal circulation (PFC) occurring as early as three hours postoperatively, although three babies had episodes in their second week. Hyperventilation, with hand bagging, was successful in treating five out of six episodes of PFC (83%), without complication. Tolazoline caused improvement in two out of four episodes of PFC but was associated with significant complications. We recommend early and sometimes persistent use of hyperventilation by hand bagging as a means of managing PFC in diaphragmatic hernia.