Abstract

The left ventricular ejection fraction was measured in 60 infants and children with congenital heart disease by both the equilibrium gated radionuclide technique and biplane left ventricular cineangiography. The median age of the patients studied was 2.25 years, and 17 were less than 1 year old. The correlation coefficient for the two sets of measurements was good and did not deteriorate in subgroups under 1 year old and with a large left to right shunt. In those infants with a right to left shunt the correlation was weak. Equilibrium gated radionuclide angiography is a valid and clinically valuable method of measuring left ventricular function in infants and children with congenital heart disease.