Postoperative outcome in patients with anomalous origin of one pulmonary artery branch from the aorta.

The aim was to review our experience with the surgical repair of the anomalous origin of one pulmonary branch from the aorta (AOPA). Materials and method: Between January 1991 and March 2002, eight patients with AOPA underwent surgical correction. Three patients presented isolated AOPA. Five patients presented right AOPA and three, left AOPA. Implantation of the AOPA to the main pulmonary artery was performed by: (I) direct anastomosis in two patients with left AOPA; (II) interposition of a synthetic graft in one patient with left AOPA; (III) employing an autologous pericardial patch in two patients with right AOPA; (IV) using an aortic flap in three other patients with right AOPA. The mean follow-up time was 37.7 months. Results: One patient died postoperatively due to progressive heart failure unresponsive to inotropic support. Early postoperative pulmonary hypertension crisis was identified in another patient. Within 1 year after surgery, the mean residual gradient across the anastomotic site at follow-up was 14±8 mmHg. The patient undergoing interposition of a synthetic graft presented a residual gradient of 29 mmHg and underwent reoperation at almost 2.5 years after the first correction. The residual gradient in patients undergoing correction according to technique I was 17±3 mmHg, and in patients undergoing implantation of the AOPA according to techniques III or IV was 9.5±4.6 mmHg (P=0.11). Similarly, the Tc-99m scintigraphy demonstrated that a lower lung perfusion (the lung perfused from the respective AOPA compared with the contralateral lung) in patients undergoing AOPA implantation according to technique I was 59±6(%) and in patients undergoing techniques III or IV was 72±4.5(%) (P=0.038). At follow-up, all patients were alive. Conclusion: The AOPA from the aorta is a rare but important entity, necessitating a scrupulous preoperative and intraoperative evaluation. Patients presenting this anomaly may undergo correction using various surgical techniques with acceptable results. The techniques employing autologous tissues for enlarging and lengthening the AOPA seems to be associated with less restenosis at the anastomotic site, however, larger series of patients are required to confirm such outcome.