Growth and tissue abnormalities in young people with cyanotic congenital heart disease receiving systemic-pulmonary artery shunts.

The effects of systemic-pulmonary artery shunts on growth, body composition, and adipose tissue were studied in 29 children, aged 2 to 16 years, with cyanotic congenital heart disease. Of these, 16 received surgical shunts and 13 were unoperated. Postoperatively, all patients who received shunts were better oxygenated (systemic oxygen saturation 69 +/- 11% preoperatively and 84 +/- 4% postoperatively; mean +/- standard error of the mean) and were symptomatically improved. However, the groups were not significantly different in height, weight, lean body mass, total body fat, lean/fat ratio, cellular lipid content, or total number of lipid-containing fat cells. Age at operation did not seem to influence the effects of surgery. These observations suggest that growth and certain measurements of tissue development were unaffected by surgical systemic-pulmonary artery shunts despite increased oxygenation and symptomatic improvement after operation.