Babies with one pumping ventricle need a series of medical and surgical procedures in order to have an adequate blood flow to the lungs and consequently to survive and grow. The Fontan operation is usually the final stage of surgeries and isolates the systemic and pulmonary circulation. This study focuses on the second stage of surgeries, in which the superior vena cava (SVC) is connected direc...

In recent years, there has been a marked reduction in surgical mortality for many complex forms of congenital heart disease. Treatment or palliative strategies vary but may include systemic-pulmonary central or Blalock-Taussig shunt. These shunts can be complicated by overcirculation, infection, thrombosis, and thromboembolism. Many diagnostic modalities are available to aide in diagnosis of po...

The purpose of the present study was to determine for the first time the qualitative and quantitative impact of varying degrees of interatrial shunting on right heart dynamics and systemic perfusion in subjects with chronic pulmonary hypertension (CPH). Eight dogs underwent 3 mo of progressive pulmonary artery banding, following which right atrial and ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic ...

OBJECTIVE Our objective was to analyze changes in pulmonary artery size after bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt. METHODS All 47 patients who underwent bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt between March 1990 and May 1995 who had preoperative and postoperative angiograms available for review were selected for study. This included 24 patients who had also undergone a modified Fontan operation. Clin...

Seven freshwater turtles Trachemys scripta were instrumented with flow probes and cannulated for blood pressure measurements. The turtles were warmed from 24 to 34 degrees C, and cooled down to 24 degrees C, with and without atropine. Animals exhibited a hysteresis of heart rate and blood flow to both the pulmonary and systemic circulations, which was not cholinergically mediated. Blood pressur...

Background The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of stress on left-to-right shunting in patients with atrial septal defect (ASD) and to investigate if the degree of shunting, cardiac output (CO), and right ventricular (RV) volumes are related to exercise capacity. Methods Twenty-six patients with a secundum ASD and 16 healthy volunteers were studied with rest/stress cardiac ma...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In portal hypertensive patients, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) acutely increases cardiac output and exaggerates peripheral vasodilatation. It has been suggested that the worsened hyperdynamic state may progress to high output heart failure. The aim was to evaluate the acute and short-term haemodynamic adaptation to this procedure. METHODS Systemic, s...

Anomalous systemic arterial supply to the normal basal segments of the left lower lobe is a rare congenital anomaly. Although most cases are asymptomatic, treatment is recommended for all patients with or without symptoms because of their potential risk for hemoptysis due to pulmonary hypertension and heart failure due to systemic arteryto-pulmonary vein shunt. There are several surgical proced...