Ascending aorta-right pulmonary artery anastomosis in children with complex cardiac malformations. Long-term results in 30 cases.

In this report, we shall analyze the results obtained with palliative treatment in 30 patients with congenital heart disease who were operated upon at the University Hospital of Caracas during the period 1968 to 1972. In all cases, an ascending aorta-right pulmonary artery anastomosis was performed. Although we believe that the Blalock-Taussig and Potts shunt are satisfactory operations in some cases, at the present time we prefer the aorta-right pulmonary branch anastomosis in Fallots tetralogy and other congenital heart diseases such as single ventricle. In Fallot's tetralogy, particularly, this procedure provides better results, because the anastomosis can be closed through the aorta when these patients are later subjected to total correction with extracorporeal circulation.