Congenital: Single ventricle
Outcomes of multistage palliation of infants with functional single ventricle and heterotaxy syndrome

Read at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Western Thoracic Surgical Association, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, June 24-27, 2015.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtcvs.2016.01.054Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

Background

Management of infants with heterotaxy syndrome and functional single ventricle is complicated due to associated cardiac and extracardiac anomalies. We report current era palliation results.

Methods

Between 2002 and 2012, 67 infants with heterotaxy syndrome underwent multistage palliation. Competing risks analyses modeled events after surgery (death vs Glenn procedure) and examined factors associated with survival. In addition, early and late outcomes following first-stage palliation surgery were compared with a matched contemporaneous control group of patients with nonheterotaxy single ventricle anomalies.

Results

Fifty-eight patients (87%) required neonatal palliation, including a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt (n = 34; 51%), Norwood operation (n = 12; 18%) or pulmonary artery band (n = 12; 18%), whereas 9 patients (13%) underwent a primary Glenn procedure. Competing risks analysis showed that at 1 year after first-stage palliation surgery, 29% of the patients had died or undergone transplantation and 63% had undergone a Glenn procedure. By 5 years after the Glenn procedure, 64% of patients had undergone a Fontan procedure. The overall 8-year survival rate was 66%. On multivariable analysis, factors associated with mortality were unplanned reoperation (hazard ratio [HR], 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-7.3; P = .005) and total anomalous pulmonary venous connection repair (HR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.0-5.6; P = .056). Comparison with the contemporaneous matched patients with nonheterotaxy single ventricle anomalies showed that first-stage palliation in the patients with heterotaxy was associated with a higher rate of in-hospital death (27% vs 10%; P = .022), and significantly longer durations of ventilation and intensive care unit stay. Interstage mortality, survival after the Glenn procedure, and progression to the Fontan procedure were comparable in the 2 groups.

Conclusions

The management of infants with heterotaxy and a functional single ventricle remains challenging. First-stage palliation is associated with high operative mortality and increased resource utilization owing to surgical morbidity. Nonetheless, outcomes beyond hospital discharge are comparable to those for patients with other single ventricle anomalies. Efforts to improve survival in those patients should focus on perioperative care.

Key Words

single ventricle
heterotaxy syndrome
Glenn
Fontan

Abbreviations and Acronyms

BTS
modified Blalock-Taussig shunt
CI
confidence interval
ECMO
extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
HR
hazard ratio
IQR
interquartile range
LAI
left atrial isomerism
OR
odds ratio
PAB
pulmonary artery band
RAI
right atrial isomerism
TAPVC
total anomalous pulmonary venous connection

Cited by (0)