Current Status of Treatment for Tricuspid Atresia: Introduction to Symposium

Abstract

In November, 1978, a symposium on the current status of treatment for tricuspid atresia was held at the 51st Scientific Session of the American Heart Association. The symposium was sponsored jointly by the Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young and Council on Cardiovascular Surgery. It was moderated by Dr. Fred Bowman and me. The data in three of the following papers were in part or entirely presented at the symposium. Following these brief introductory remarks on the prevalence and overall survival of patients with tricuspid atresia, Dr. Weinberg describes the various anatomical forms of tricuspid atresia. Palliative intervention utilizing various shunt procedures is discussed by Dr. Trusler and Dr. Williams, and a new palliative procedure is presented by Dr. Fontan and colleagues. Because of the paucity of postoperative data following the Fontan procedure, a paper by Dr. Behrendt and myself was added to this symposium. Some of this material was presented previously at the cardiology section of the American Academy of Pediatrics in October, 1978. The prevalence of tricuspid atresia can be estimated from the information gathered by the New England Regional Infant Cardiac Program. This program is a voluntary association of hospitals in the six New England states and offers definitive care for infants with cardiac disease. It is evident that tricuspid atresia is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly. It ranks fourteenth among the diagnostic categories of congenital heart disease during infancy and accounts for only 2.6% of all infants with heart disease hospitalized or dying in the first year of life.* Out of 1,083,083 live births in New England from 1968 through 1974, 58 infants had tricuspid