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Ann Thorac Surg 2007;83:726-727
© 2007 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Correspondence

Reply

Jürgen Hörer, MD, Andreas Eicken, MD, Christian Schreiber, MD, PhD

Clinic of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Paediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, German Heart Center Munich at the Technical University Munich, Lazarettstrasse 36, Munich, 80636 Germany

(Email: schreiber{at}dhm.mhn.de).

To the Editor:

We thank Dr Marcelletti [1] for his interest in our recent article [2]. We reported recently on 13 of 34 patients in whom a right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit (Shelhigh No-React NR-4000PA series, Shelhigh Inc, Union, NJ) had to be replaced within 12 months. From November 2005 to July 2006, another 8 patients required conduit explantation and 1 stent implantation for distal conduit obstruction. Mean time to conduit failure in the total group was 10.4 ± 4.7 months. Freedom from conduit failure at 10 months was 14.1 ± 12.9% for a size 10-mm conduit, and 70.8 ± 11.0% for conduit sizes 12-mm, 14-mm, and 16-mm, respectively (p = 0.23; hazard rate, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–8.8; Fig 1). Only patients with a size 16-mm conduit (n = 3) are currently free from redo operations. In conclusion, the very small-sized conduit cannot be regarded as an ideal conduit for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction.


Figure 1
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  		Fig 1. Freedom from conduit failure related to conduit size.

 


   References
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 References
 

  1. Marcelletti CF. My view and my experience on extracardiac RV-PA conduit (letter) Ann Thorac Surg 2007;83:726.[Free Full Text]
  2. Schreiber C, Sassen S, Kostolny M, et al. Early graft failure of small-sized porcine-valved conduits in reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract Ann Thorac Surg 2006;82:179-185.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Related Article

My View and My Experience on Extracardiac RV-PA Conduit
Carlo F. Marcelletti
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2007 83: 726. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]




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