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Despite two different initial palliative techniques the outcome was not significantly different. Accessory pulsatile blood flow appeared not to be a contra-indication for a completion Fontan procedure. Moreover, the data suggest that after accessory pulsatile flow can safely be performed, at late follow-up oxygen saturation is higher, while, significantly more and earlier completion of Fontan occurred. Age at bi-directional cavopulmonary shunt, basic left or right ventricular anatomy or previous palliative surgery did not influence survival.

Lung biopsy specimens were abnormal in 51% of patients with low pulmonary arterial pressure, there was no relationship between preoperative pulmonary arterial pressure and outcome, and extension of muscle in peripheral arteries was always present in cases of failure of the Fontan procedure. Histomorphometric study is therefore a useful adjunct to the usual selection criteria for surgical decision making in cases of single-ventricle physiology.