BILATERAL MAIN BRONCHIAL COMPRESSION CAUSED BY THE DUCTAL LIGAMENT

Several authors have reported cases of respiratory distress resulting from bronchial compression due to a hypertensive pulmonary artery in t he setting of a large left-to-right shunt. However, respiratory distre ss due to bilateral main bronchial compression due to an enlarged pulm onary artery suspended posteriorly by the ductal ligament following re pair of a ventricular septal defect is extremely rare. In this report, we advocate the necessity of dividing the ductal ligament in some pat ients with large left-to-right shunts when there are episodes of idiop athic respiratory distress before operation.