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We present the pathological study of 17 cases of mitral atresia with patent aortic valve and their surgical implications. The study is based on the type of atrioventricular connection, presence or absence of ventricular septum, size of the left ventricle and relation of the aorta with the aforementioned ventricle. We have classified mitral atresia into two groups by assessing these data. Group A) Both ventricles and atrioventricular connections are present and there is ventricular septal defect. The aorta may connect with an either normal or hypoplastic left ventricle or it may emerge in double outlet from the right ventricle. Group B) Absent left ventricle and atrioventricular connection. The aorta emerges from the single ventricle or the rudimentary chamber. Thirteen cases belonged to group A and four to group B. The pathological structure of mitral atresia requires the decompression of the left atrium by atrioseptostomy during the neonatal period to enable survival. On a second stage a palliative correction should be carried out, which; depending on ventricular size and outlet of the vessels, will be a valvular prosthesis left atrium-left ventricle or the modified atriopulmonary technique connecting the new left atrium with the systemic ventricle and aorta after resecting the auricular septum and connecting the right atrium with the pulmonary artery.

Three cases of congenital cerebral arteriovenous malformation are presented. They all developed congestive heart failure in the first day of life. The main clinical findings were a continuous murmur heard over the scalp, an ejection murmur at the upper left sternal border, gallop rhythm, cardiomegaly and hepatomegaly. Diagnosis was confirmed in all by carotideal arterography. Two had aneurysm of the vena cerebri interna Galeni and in the other, the aneurysm was localized in the area irrigated by the sylvian artery. The two former died after surgery was considered not feasible. The latter had his malformation resected. Two years after operation he is doing well.

We describe 13 cases of Ebstein's anomaly of the tricuspid valve. Seventy percent of there cases were detected at one month of age. Ten patients died and 9 presented associated cardiac anomalies. Signs of right heart failure were the clinical date that made possible the diagnosis of the disease in the most severe cases in the neonatal period. Only two patients had alteration of the cardiac rhythm: One had tachycardia that ended with ventricular fibrillation and the other had a 2:1 heart block. Echocardiography was very useful to establish the diagnosis: one hundred percent of the patients showed a delay in closing of the tricuspid in relation to the mitral valve, with a range of 0,03 to 0,06 seconds. Angiocardiographic studies revealed a tricuspid valve displacement in 8 cases, and double contour image in 6. The septal and posterior leaflets were hypoplasic in the 10 anatomic cases and in 80 percent of them it was possible to differentiate the cords from the papillary muscles.