The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 76, 345-352, Copyright © 1978 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Late hemodynamic and angiographic findings after ascending aorta-- pulmonary artery anastomosis
WJ Norberg, M Tadavarthy, L Knight, DM Nicoloff and JH Moller
Ascending aorta-pulmonary artery (Waterston) anastomosis was performed in
75 children, 51 of whom were younger than 1 month of age and 36 younger
than 1 week of age at the time of operation. There were 21 operative and
eight late deaths. Operative deaths occurred more frequently in infants
with complex cardiac conditions and severe hypoxemia and acidosis
preoperatively. The postoperative status of the pulmonary arteries or
arterioles could not be correlate with the degree of cardiomegaly, the
pulmonary vascular markings, or characteristics of the shunt murmur.
Sixty-four percent of the patients catheterized had one or more
postoperative structural abnormalities of the pulmonary arteries following
the operation, most frequently kinking or narrowing of a pulmonary artery.
Occlusion of a pulmonary artery occurred in five of 33 patients studied by
angiography. Pulmonary vascular disease may also develop. Therefore,
patients should be catheterized 1 year postoperatively to evaluate the
level of pulmonary vascular resistance and the pulmonary arteries.