A Proposed New Technique for Correction of Transposition of the Great Arteries

Abstract

A proposed new technique for correction of transposition of the great arteries is presented that restores normal anatomical and physiological continuity of blood flow through the cardiac chambers, valves, and great vessels. Thus, blood from the right ventricle can be shunted through a tube made of Dacron, the pulmonary artery, or the rectus sheath sutured proximally at a level between the aortic root annulus and the coronary ostia and distally into the pulmonary artery bifurcation. A common aortopulmonary trunk serves as the new aorta with blood flowing through it from the anatomical left ventricle and its valves around the interposed graft, thus supplying both the coronary arteries proximally and the aorta distally. Preliminary experiments are discussed.