[New surgical approach "intrapulmonary septation technic" for Fontan candidates with unilateral pulmonary arterial hypoplasia and/or pulmonary venous obstruction].

Unilateral pulmonary arterial hypoplasia and/or pulmonary venous obstruction are serious hazards for Fontan candidates. For these patients, we have started new surgical approach "intrapulmonary septation technic". This consists of 3 components; (A) partial right heart bypass to well-grown side, (B) mandatory pulmonary blood flow to low-capacity side, (aorto-pulmonary shunt or others) and (C) a patch between partial right heart bypass and mandatory pulmonary blood flow. Thirteen patients underwent the approach. The source of partial right heart bypass was brought from superior vena cava (11 patients), inferior vena cava (1 patient) and fenestrated Fontan (1 patient). The mandatory pulmonary blood flow was supplied by aorto-pulmonary shunt (11 patients), pulmonary arterial banding (1 patient) and native pulmonary valve stenosis (1 patient). We added pulmonary artery enlargement (9 patients), release of pulmonary venous obstruction (8 patients) and/or atrio-ventricular valve plasty (5 patients), simultaneously. No hospital death. Early post-operative course was uneventful in all cases except 1, as pulmonary blood flow to low-capacity side had increased gradually after this intervention. Eight patients had reached Fontan operation. In this approach, nearly whole pulmonary artery can grow without any affect of volume overload through well-grown side from collateral arteries of low-capacity side. All procedures of "intrapulmonary septation technic" and reconstruction of pulmonary artery in Fontan operation can be easily performed in larger pulmonary artery of well-grown side, eliminating need for extensive dissection.