Modified technique for correction of tricuspid atresia.

This study presents a new technique for correction of tricuspid atresia. All 13 patients operated upon had the same form of the anomaly, with the great arteries normally related. The principle is to conserve the pulmonary valve and anulus of the patient in its anatomic position and to exclude the hypoplastic right ventricle. Because there is no need for closing the ventricular septal defect, the risk of heart block and residual left-to-right shunts is avoided. Deaths are related to questionable indications for two patients and to a bilateral pneumothorax for the third one. The long-term follow-up (5 years for the first patient) shows good results for the 10 survivors. Six of them are in Class 1 of the New York Heart Association and four are in Class II.