Surgical connections from ventricle to pulmonary artery. Comparison of four types of valved implants.

BACKGROUND

Four types of valved conduits used to correct venous ventricle to pulmonary artery (V-PA) discontinuity were compared.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Four hundred fifty-seven patients with congenital heart defects requiring a V-PA connection during the past 25 years were reviewed. Age at implant varied from 1 day to 64 years (mean, 9.1 years). Four types of valved prostheses were used: 1) homograft conduit (HC, n = 178), 2) valved Dacron conduit (VDC, n = 126), 3) polystan conduit (PC, n = 47), and 4) orthotopic pulmonary valve implant (PVI, n = 106). There were 83 early deaths (18.2%) and 34 late deaths (8.5%). Follow-up ranged from 1 month to 22 years (mean, 3.5 years). One hundred eight conduit replacements were performed in 93 patients (21%). The overall patient survival was 73 +/- 2.3%, 67 +/- 3.2%, and 56 +/- 6.8% at 5, 10, and 15 years, respectively. Factors predictive of patient survival were diagnosis (p < 0.001) and valve size (p < 0.001). Age at operation (p < 0.001) and type of valve (p < 0.001) were the only risk factors for valve survival. At 5 years, survival of PVI (89 +/- 5%) and VDC (89 +/- 4%) was significantly better than survival of HC (46 +/- 13%) or PC (57 +/- 9%).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients who survived the initial construction of a V-PA conduit had a reasonable long-term survival. A PVI was the most durable prosthesis. A Dacron porcine-valved conduit had significantly better durability than either a cryopreserved homograft or a PC.