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The Annals of Thoracic Surgery is the official journal of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the
Southern Thoracic Surgical Association. Copyright © 1998 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Print
ISSN: 0003-4975; eISSN: 1552-6259.
Background. Aortopulmonary window is a rare anom- anastomosed the mobilized descending aorta directly to
aly, and a variety of surgical techniques have been the aortic defect of the aortopulmonary window, closing
described for its closure. the pulmonary artery with a pericardial patch.
Methods. We treated 6 infants with aortopulmonary Results. There were no hospital deaths, and all patients
window between 1993 and 1995. Three had associated are in New York Heart Association functional class I at a
type A interrupted aortic arch, and another had a muscu- mean follow-up of 30 months. Echocardiography shows
lar ventricular septal defect. The diagnosis was made by no significant distortion of the great vessels.
echocardiography, confirmed by cardiac catheterization Conclusions. The techniques described achieve excel-
in 4 infants. In 1 very sick neonate with interrupted arch, lent results using only autologous tissues with the po-
diagnosis of the window was considerably delayed. In 4 tential for normal growth.
patients, we closed the window by using a flap of
pulmonary artery, which was reconstructed without us- (Ann Thorac Surg 1998;65:768 –70)
ing a patch. In 2 neonates with interrupted arch we © 1998 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
IAA 5 interrupted aortic arch; PDA 5 patent ductus arteriosus; VSD 5 ventricular septal defect.
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