Right Ventricle-to-Pulmonary Artery Shunt in Pulmonary Atresia with a Ventricular Septal Defect: A Word of Caution

AbstractThe management of pulmonary atresia with a ventricular septal defect (PA/VSD) depends on the anatomy of the pulmonary artery or on the surgical strategy used at individual institutions. In our institution, we adopted a right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery (RV-PA) shunt in 2011 as a palliative procedure for PA/VSD to overcome the disadvantages of a Blalock-Taussig shunt. We evaluated the results of the RV-PA shunt as initial palliative surgery for PA/VSD. Thirteen patients with ductus-dependent PA/VSD from August 2011 to August 2015 were enrolled. The mean age at surgery was 17.9  ± 15.3 (range 5–60) days, and the mean body weight was 2.9 ± 0.6 (range 2.2–4.0) kg. A Gore-Tex tube graft was used in all patients. We retrospectively observed intra- and postoperative complications, early and late mortality, and palliation duration to definitive repair. Left pulmona ry artery angioplasty was performed as a concomitant procedure in three patients. There were no early hospital mortalities, although two inter-stage deaths occurred 34 and 47 days postoperatively: one patient died of aspiration and the other of right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) pseudoaneurysm rupture. Two patients (15.4%) required the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support postoperatively: one because of failure to wean from a bypass caused by persistent hypoxemia and the other because of sudden massive bleeding from the RVOT suture line in the intensive care unit 2 days postoperati vely....
Source: Pediatric Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research