CONGESTIVE-HEART-FAILURE WITH TETRALOGY OF FALLOT RELIEVED BY AN AORTOPULMONARY SHUNT

Congestive heart failure occurring in unoperated patients with otherwi se uncomplicated tetralogy of Fallot (TF) is rare. We report the case of a boy who was first diagnosed as having TF when he presented at age 3 years with hypoxia and heart failure. Heart failure improved follow ing an aortopulmonary shunt, We attributed his heart failure to cardio myopathy associated with severe hypoxia. We believe that this report i s the first one that attributes heart failure to hypoxia in an unopera ted patient with tetralogy of Fallot.