Double-Inlet Ventricle: Anomalies of the Atrioventricular Valves Assessed by Cross-Sectional Echocardiography

From January 1981 to June 1984, 80 patients with double-inlet ventricle with two atrioventricular (AV) valves were studied by cross-sectional echocardiography at Ospedali Riuniti (Bergamo, Italy) and Brompton Hospital (London, United Kingdom). According to Anderson’s classification [1], 69 patients had double-inlet left ventricle, six had double-inlet right ventricle, and five had double-inlet solitary ventricle of indeterminate morphology; identification of the rudimentary ventricle and its relationships with the dominant ventricle allowed the echocardiographic categorization into these three groups [2–4]. Anomalies of the atrioventricular valves were found in 34 cases (42.5%) (Table 1).