[Univentricular heart and pulmonary stenosis with a right-to-left shunt between the innominate and pulmonary veins after Glenn operation: a case report].

A 12-year-old girl with a univentricular heart and pulmonary stenosis, who had undergone Glenn operation at two years of age and Fontan operation at 11 years of age, had a right-to-left shunt via collaterals between the innominate and pulmonary veins. This right-to-left shunt was detected by two-dimensional contrast echocardiography. The contrast material was injected into the left antecubital vein appeared in the left atrium, and this was confirmed by innominate venography. The contrast material injected into the left innominate vein passed via the collaterals into the pulmonary veins bilaterally. No such cases have so far been reported. In our experience, in four of six cases after Glenn operation, including the present case, the abnormal collateral circulation from the superior vena cava to the atrium was detected by two-dimensional contrast echocardiography. This case is interesting embryologically and suggests that the connection between the pulmonary and systemic veins which is present in early fetal life, and subsequently disappears, was present after birth.