Cardiol Young 2006; 16 (Suppl. 3): 97–102
© Cambridge University Press
ISSN 1047-9511
doi: 10.1017/S1047951106000813
A
VARIETY OF SURGICAL STRATEGIES HAVE BEEN
utilized in attempts to accomplish long-term
haemodynamic stability in patients with car-
diac anomalies characterized by discordant atrioven-
tricular connections, ventricular septal defect, and
severe sub-pulmonary obstruction. The majority of
these patients have what is commonly referred to as
congenitally corrected transposition, together with a
ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis or
atresia, in the setting of either usual or mirror
imaged arrangement of the atrial chambers and the
other organs of the body. A smaller sub-group, with
discordant atrioventricular connections and double
outlet right ventricle, with severe sub-pulmonary
obstruction or pulmonary atresia, present similar
physiology, and a comparable surgical challenge.
Toward the end of the decade of the 1980s, several
surgical groups,
1–3
recognizing the limitations of sur-
gical strategies that left the morphologically right ven-
tricle as the sole systemic pumping chamber,
attempted surgical repairs encompassing an atrial baf-
fle procedure, either the Mustard or Senning operation,
to address the physiology of discordant atrioventric-
ular connections, together with a Rastelli procedure,
involving construction of an interventricular baffle and
placement of an extracardiac conduit, to address the
problems created by, on the one hand, the discordant
ventriculo-arterial connections, and on the other
hand, the sub-pulmonary obstruction (Fig. 1).
Ilbawi et al.
1
were the first to report a successful
series of such procedures, which eventually came to
be known as double switch operations. As is dis-
cussed in the review of nomenclature elsewhere in
this supplement,
4
this term is more precise and accu-
rate when applied to the combination of an atrial
baffle procedure and an arterial switch operation, as
has more recently been advocated for congenitally
The role of Fontan’s procedure and aortic translocation in
the surgical management of patients with discordant
atrioventricular connections, interventricular communication,
and pulmonary stenosis or atresia
Marshall L. Jacobs,
1
Glenn Pelletier,
1
Peter D. Wearden,
2
Victor O. Morell
2
1
Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Drexel University, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, United States of America;
2
Section of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery of the Heart, Lung and Esophageal
Institute, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Keywords: Biventricular repair-Mustard/Senning/Rastelli; ventricular septal defect; congenitally corrected transposition
Correspsondence to: Marshall L. Jacobs MD, Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery,
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Erie Avenue at Front Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19134, United States of America. Tel: +215 427 5109; Fax:
+215 427 3860; E-mail: Marshall.Jacobs@tenethealth.com
EXTRACARDIAC
CONDUIT
INTRAVENTRICULAR
TUNNEL
LV
Ao
PA
CS
PA
RV
Figure 1.
Cartoon showing the essence of anatomic correction incorporating cre-
ation of an atrial baffle combined with the Rastelli procedure.
Discordant Atrioventricular Connections