Experience in palliative treatment of univentricular heart including tricuspid atresia

Over a period of ten years 110 patients with univentricular heart, including cases with tricuspid atresia, received palliation. The overall hospital mortality was 14.5%. Late mortality during a mean follow-up period of two years, was 6%. A group of patients with univentricular heart ("complex" group: 21 cases) had numerous and significant associated anomalies which affected the surgical results (16 survivors). Eight patients were discovered to have univentricular heart only at open heart surgery (5 survivors). In the remaining patients hospital mortality was 7.4% (6/81). As compared with the natural history these results indicate that palliative surgery is still an effective type of treatment for these two severe cardiac malformations.