Pulmonary Blood Distribution after Total Cavopulmonary Connection

From July 1998 to December 2000, the distribution of pulmonary blood flow was evaluated in 34 consecutive surviving patients who had been randomly assigned to one of 4 different modes of total cavopulmonary connection. All patients underwent radionuclide lung perfusion imaging with 99m Tc-macroaggregated albumin to determine the distribution of blood from the superior and inferior venae cavae and the total pulmonary flow to each lung. The most physiological distribution of blood between the right and left lungs was obtained when the inferior vena cava anastomosis was widened and slightly offset towards the right pulmonary artery in patients without persistent left superior vena cava. This type of anastomosis should also reduce the incidence of arteriovenous malformations in the lung caused by exclusion of hepatic venous return.