Experimentally reversed pulmonary blood flow. Implications for the surgical management of complex forms of congenital heart disease.
Blood flow to the right lung was reversed in 28 dogs, 14 of which survived more than 1 month. Four successful long-term survivors (1 years to 4 years 7 months) were repeatedly studied by cardiac catheterization, angiography, and ventilation/perfusion scans as well as hemodynamically when they were killed. Hemodynamics and gas transfer were normal up to 4 1/2 years after the procedure, and the histology of the right lung was essentially normal. The application of reversed pulmonary blood flow is proposed in the surgical management of forms of congenital heart disease in which the right ventricle is diminutive. The procedure consists of repartitioning of the atria to allow venous blood to flow into the lung through the pulmonary veins and exit to the left atrium through the pulmonary artery.
D000818:Animals; D001401:Azygos Vein / Q000637:transplantation; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D004285:Dogs; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000601:surgery; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000601:surgery*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D007601:Jugular Veins / Q000637:transplantation; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D011859:Radiography; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous