The importance of age and weight on cavopulmonary shunt (stage II) outcomes after the Norwood procedure: Planned versus unplanned surgery

Abstract

Objective The study objective was to evaluate the outcomes of the cavopulmonary shunt after the Norwood procedure with a particular focus on age, weight, and whether surgery was planned or expedited by clinical findings. Methods We studied 297 consecutive patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome undergoing the cavopulmonary shunt operation between 2002 and 2014. All patients underwent the Norwood procedure with a right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit. Unplanned surgery was any situation in which surgery was expedited because of refractory desaturation, angiographic findings, or failure to discharge. Results There were 222 planned and 75 unplanned procedures. Planned surgery was performed at median of 5.4 (4.6-6.3) months compared with 3.9 (3.3-5.0) months for the unplanned group (P