Hemodynamics and the Development of Certain Malformations of the Great Arteries

The Authors hypothesize variations in the course of the bloodstreams in the ventricular outflow tract and consequent changes in distribution to the 6th and 4th branchial arterial arches; these are thought to be the result of primary intracardiac or extracardiac events. The Authors have also studied the changes in the way the endocardial septal ridges are arranged in the ventricular outflow tract. They have thus theoretically identified 13 probable hemodynamic patterns, 1 in the normal and 12 in the abnormal developing heart: in developing “complete transposition” and in “corrected transposition”, in developing interruption of the aortic arch and in the development of other morphologically unidentified vascular anomalies. The Authors have studied various hypotheses previously advanced by other research-workers and have compared these with their own theoretical patterns.