“Commentary: Aorto-Ventricular Tunnel: More than a mere tunnel!“

Aorto-ventricular tunnel is a rare congenital anomaly and the multicenter study by Protopapas et al is both educative and timely.1 Despite the limitations often intrinsic to a study of such nature, the manuscript sheds light on many features of the disease and brings to the fore the issue of associated aortic valve disease as a key determinant of both short and long term outcomes. The study population included 42 patients from 15 centers over a period of 3 decades. It is interesting to note that the Aorto-left ventricle tunnel group tended to present much earlier although the aorto-right ventricle tunnel group should also theoretically experience a significant volume overload on the left ventricle from the left to right shunting leading one to wonder whether the latter is to some extent an acquired condition.
Source: Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery - Category: Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Authors: Tags: CONGENITAL – Commentary Source Type: research