Which two ventricles cannot be used for a biventricular repair? Echocardiographic assessment.
BACKGROUND
A variety of factors can influence the suitability of a congenitally malformed heart for biventricular repair, including size, morphology, function, and dimensions and function of the inflow and outflow, among others. Although certain features have been identified that may indicate a lower probability of successful biventricular repair, our ability to predict whether a particular patient will be able to tolerate completely separate in-series systemic and pulmonary circulations remains imperfect.


RESULTS
In this review, we discuss the echocardiographic evaluation of various factors that can influence a patient's suitability for two ventricle repair. We call on our own experience, and illustrate our discussion with a number of echocardiographic images.


CONCLUSIONS
In most cases, echocardiography allows for full assessment of the anatomic and functional features that influence whether a patient is a suitable candidate for biventricular repair. Although a number of indices have been developed for determining who can and cannot be expected to undergo successful two ventricle repair, there remains substantial room for progress in this area.
Silverman
N H
NH
Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, 94143-0214, USA. norman_silverman@pedcardgateway.ucsf.edu
McElhinney
D B
DB
D004452:Echocardiography; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000601:surgery*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans