What is a fenestrated Fontan?
Fenestration closure after a Fontan operation is a procedure to close the hole between your child’s heart and the tunnel that takes oxygen-poor blood from the body to the lungs. The procedure is done in the heart catheterization lab.
What is an Extracardiac Fontan?
The extracardiac Fontan uses an external conduit to anastomose the inferior vena cava into the pulmonary arteries, whereas a lateral tunnel Fontan uses a baffle within the right atrium (Figure 1).
What is modified Fontan procedure?
Modified Fontan Procedure: Extracardiac Conduit Blood receives oxygen from the lungs and returns to the heart, where it is actively pumped out to the body. This procedure is usually done between 2-4 years of age. During surgery, the chest is opened through the previous incision, using a median sternotomy.
How common is Fontan procedure?
Up to 70 000 patients may be alive worldwide today with Fontan circulation, and this population is expected to double in the next 20 years. In the absence of a subpulmonary ventricle, Fontan circulation is characterized by chronically elevated systemic venous pressures and decreased cardiac output.
Why is Fontan fenestrated?
Fenestration of the Fontan circuit allows for shunting of deoxygenated blood to the systemic circulation. This procedure improved the clinical outcomes of patients who are at high risk for poor Fontan results. However, it is controversial whether fenestration is beneficial for standard-risk patients.
What is fenestration surgery?
Fenestration surgery, or in other words, the making of openings in canals, was used to treat otosclerosis during the 1940’s, before the invention of the stapes operation for otosclerosis. There are only a few patients who have fenestrations, as this surgery is no longer done.
Why is it called a bidirectional Glenn?
Since the blood passing from the SVC into the pulmonary arterial system flows bidirectionally to both right and left lungs, it is called a bi-directional Glenn procedure.
What is Glenn shunt surgery?
During the Glenn procedure, the surgeon disconnects the superior vena cava (SVC) from the heart and connects it to the pulmonary artery. Now the blood from the upper part of the body flows directly into the pulmonary artery.
