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Side-to-side aorto-Gore-Tex central shunt
1Department of Surgery, University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, 90095-1741, USA.
Background:
This report details our experience in 13 patients with a technical modification of the standard central shunt.
Methods:
The study was performed using a retrospective chart review approach. In our operation, the aorto-Gore-Tex (W.L. Gore & Assoc, Flagstaff, AZ) anastomosis is created in a side-to-side fashion with the free end of the Gore-Tex shunt being oversewn.
Results:
All patients had echocardiographic evidence of shunt patency in the immediate postoperative period, and there have been no cases of late shunt occlusion at a mean follow-up period of 10 months.
Conclusions:
We believe this approach will yield patency rates equivalent to or better than those of the standard central shunt. The technique has the advantage of creating a short, straight-lying shunt that is less likely to kink or be injured on repeated sternotomy and in which flow may be more reliable.